For I Am Captured Straight to You
by Majesta Moniet
Summary: He'd been in love with Bella Swan for two years. Embry had been his brother for 17 years. And no matter how the numbers got added up, Jacob was completely screwed. Jacob/Bella/Embry AU
1. Part One

For I Am Captured Straight To You

AN: I have a lot of people to thank for making this fic possible. All of my lovely pre-readers who have helped my brainstorm/make sense of/clean-up this story (by their LJ names): **_argustar**, **halcyon_x3**, **kathy_rindhoops**, **lsjcandy**, **pnai_87**, **winter4555**. Thank you for your patience!

And, of course, many hugs to my beta who is as talented as she is lovely: **latetolove**.

**Background Info:** Bella still arrives in Forks her junior year but before the Cullens make an appearance.

* * *

**PART ONE**

"Jake, we've been friends for a really long time."

"Yeah."

"I mean, we both pissed all of over Linda Carpenter when she tried to change our diapers, so that like makes us practically brothers, right?"

_Snicker_. "Yeah. Man, was she was an awful babysitter."

"How do you _remember_? Your brain was the size of a golf ball back then. Not that it's gotten much bigger with the passing of time…"

"Embry, I could always put a _hole_ the size of a golf ball through _your_ head."

"I'm just saying that you can't really pass judgment on her babysitting capabilities. The last time you saw her, you were teething on the corner of the coffee table in the living room. It's unlikely that—"

"Is this going somewhere?"

"Yeah, um, so we've been friends for a really long time…"

Jacob groaned, threw down the wrench in his hand and stared incredulously over at his best friend of sixteen years. "Yes. You. Me. Thick as thieves." He raised a questioning eyebrow. "Now fucking spit it out."

Embry drew in a deep breath, swallowed, and then exploded. "Sothere'sthisgirlthatIreallylike,andIcoulduseyouradviceonhowto,um,gethertonoticemeinthatway. That's all."

Jacob blinked. "I heard 'girl' and 'advice,' and that's about it." And that was enough.

Girls and Embry didn't mix well in general. Throw in a specific girl, and things were bound to get ugly. It wasn't that Embry wasn't a nice guy; it was just that, well, he was a nice guy. He excelled at two things: school and cars. Neither of those were exactly girl-friendly conversation topics. One got you labels—nerd, geek, overachiever—and the other got you confused looks—spark plugs? Is that where I plug in my IPod?

But Jacob was nothing if not a good best friend, so he would do everything in his power to steer his man away from disaster. He couldn't tell him which course to choose, but he could tell him to avoid the big-ass, fucking icebergs.

Wiping his hands off on the back of his jeans, Jacob opened the door to the rabbit and slid in. Leaning over to the passenger side window, he waved a hand. "Step into my office."

Embry snorted but complied.

"So," –Jacob elbowed him—"does the blushing beauty have a name, or should I continue to refer to her simply as 'girl?' Which you should never call her to her face."

Embry squirmed in his seat. "No, she has a name."

"Good. Nameless chicks are bad news."

Embry toyed nervously with a loose button on his shirt.

"Well?"

"It's um…"

"Oh my god, don't tell me it's one my sisters!" The thought was slightly nauseating. One was married and the other was destined to die old and alone.

The affronted look on Embry's face was evidence enough that he was equally disgusted. "Ew. Of course not! It's Bella."

Jacob frowned. "Bella? Bella Swan?"

This time it was Embry rolling his eyes. "Do you know another Bella?"

No, but Jacob was thinking really, really hard, hoping he'd missed one. Embry couldn't like Bella.

"Why not?"

Oops. He'd said that out loud, then. "Erm…"—_Because I like her_—"…because she's too…klutzy." A truth, but not a very good reason against her being dating material.

The dopey smile that crossed Embry's face looked like it'd been stolen from a Disney movie (one of those old, cheesy animated ones Rachel used to make him watch tied to a chair, while she babbled on the phone in her room, racking up three bucks an hour for 'babysitting' him—there were more horror storing concerning his sister than there were concerning Linda Carpenter, and _that_ was saying something). "Yeah, but I think that's kind of cute."

Jacob tried not to gag. Tried.

"What?" Embry scowled at him, cheeks stained a light pink.

"N-nothing," Jacob chortled. "You just sounded like a twelve year old girl." He shrugged. "Nothing out of the norm."

Jacob cursed—loudly—when Embry's fist connected with his bicep. The guy may not have been an athlete, but he spent 15 hours a week hauling lumber on the far side of the Rez, so the mother fucker had one hell of an arm.

Embry snickered as Jacob winced and rubbed at the red flesh. "Consider that a premature thank you for all your 'sage advice.' Now spill."

Still smarting, Jacob grumbled, "Spill what?"

"Come on, Jake, you have to give me some insight here. What does she like?"

Classic books, old romantic movies, beat up Chevys…basically anything that was slow and ancient. "Um…"

"You think she's out of my league, don't you?" Embry asked somberly, shoulders slumped.

_Say yes. Say yes. Say yes. _"No." He diverted his eyes to the dash. "I just don't know what to tell you."

This affirmation seemed to liven him up some. "Anything. Ever since she moved back here, the two of you have been hanging out non-stop. I mean, these last few weeks I've hardly seen you without her." A strange, uncertain look creased his face. Jacob swallowed and knew that he'd been found out. "Wait, do you like her?"

_Say yes. Say yes. Say yes._

"No."

_Oh, for the love of God!_

At Embry's unconvinced expression, Jacob rolled his eyes and tried to play it off. "Don't get me wrong. Bella's nice"—really nice—"and pretty cool"—like the coolest girl he'd ever met—"and kinda hot"—the understatement of the century—"but we both just want to be friends." He glanced out the car window, half-expecting to find a dark specter—possibly in the form of his sister—sent to cut out his lying tongue.

Next to him, Embry let out a sigh of relief. "I don't know. There's just something about her. She's not like the girls on the Rez."

Jacob risked a glance over at his friend and was surprised to see the small, affectionate smile quirking his lips and the soft, far-off look in his eyes as they traced aimless patterns across the windshield in front of him.

He'd never seen him like this. Normally when Embry liked a girl, he spent a week semi-stalking her, sweating it out and trying to gather up the courage to say something beyond an ineloquent "hey." Most of the time he never had the balls to follow through or he'd lose interest before things even really got started. The one girl he did ever ask out went on a handful of dates with him before unceremoniously explaining that she was just using him to try to make her ex jealous. The poor guy had an ugly track record concerning women.

But this forwardness wasn't characteristic of the typical weekly obsession. The fact that he was going through the trouble of attempting to find out more than her class schedule and what she ate at lunch screamed that something was different. What he felt for Bella was different.

Embry _really_ liked her. And if he wanted any hope of not falling on his ass this time around, then he would need his help.

Jacob must have done something very, very heinous in a past life. Because he was fairly certain that some day he could love Bella Swan. In fact he was already well on his way there—well past crush and adoration but not quite to worshipful.

But he'd loved Embry for seventeen years. They both peed in Linda Carpenter's freckly face. So, as far as allegiances went…

"She hates pink."

* * *

"I don't think I can do this."

Jacob sighed. "Fine. Then don't. I'll have Quil do it instead."

"No!" Bella jumped back from his outstretched hand, maneuvering the scissors behind her back and beyond his reach. The glare she managed to work up nearly had him snorting out loud in amusement: she was like a distressed baby chipmunk.

Armed with pointy shears.

"Why do you even have to do this?" She somehow managed to scowl and whine at the same time, and Jacob mentally added that to her lengthy list of freaky talents.

He rolled his eyes. They'd been over this about a dozen times. "A bet's a bet, Bella."

"But…but, it's so…_juvenile_."

One of Bella's freaky talents happened to be pointing out the obvious. "That's because we made the bet when we were twelve."

"Exactly!" Suddenly the scissors were being waved frantically in his face, and Jacob hastily retreated two steps backward. "That was _five_ years ago. You're smarter now. I've reformed you!"

Jacob couldn't quite comprehend what he was being accused of. "So…?"

The scissors arched through the air, the blades catching the light streaming in from the kitchen window. "So, making a bet when you're twelve that you'll lose your virginity by your seventeenth birthday or cut off all your hair is juvenile and stupid, and I can't believe that you're going to actually go through with it!"

Jacob blinked. "Did you just call me stupid?"

Her anger faltered, guilt and remorse smoothing out her perturbed brow. "It…sorry."

Man, she was sooooo easy.

"But in this case, what you're doing really is st—foolish. I mean, Jake, your hair is so beautiful." The scissors descended safely back to her side, as she moved forward to finger a lock of his waist-length ebony hair.

Seeing the fondness in her eyes was almost enough to convince Jacob to call up Quil and Embry and tell them to take their bet, go to Hell, and get their hair singed off _that_ way. But then he remembered that he was a man, and there were laws about these sorts of things. So, instead he promised, "It'll grow back."

Her hand fell away as she sighed. "Yeah, I guess." Giving him one last dismal look, she gestured to the chair set close to the window atop a scattering of newspapers-turned-drop-cloths. "Well, I guess we should get started."

She sounded like they were marching to the gas chamber.

"You know," Jacob began slyly while falling onto the seat, "there are still six hours until my birthday. It's not too late for me to win the bet."

She scoffed at his suggestive tone, and Jacob tried not to feel offended. "Are you implying that I might know someone who'd be interested in helping you out?"

_That depends. Are you interested?_

But Jacob easily curbed his lecherous tongue. "You are on good terms with Jessica Stanley, after all."

The hand that whacked his shoulder packed surprising force. "You are not having sex with Jessica Stanley," she huffed. "You're too good for her."

"Darn. And I was looking forward to contracting multiple STDs on my first go."

The hand struck again, but it wasn't nearly as forceful, and he fell for her just a little bit more.

Shit. Embry.

"What about him?"

Oops. Guilt ebbed in. "He's great."

She'd picked up the comb from the counter and started pulling it carefully through the length his hair. Toothed plastic had never felt so good. "Yeah, he is."

Jacob sat up straighter. "You think Embry's great?"

Her chuckle tickled his ears. "Sure."

Not even the slightest hesitation. This wasn't looking good.

"How, um…"—he schooled his tone to nonchalance—"How great is 'great'?"

"What do you mean?" The frown in her voice was audible. Bella had a total spidey sense when it came to calling him on his bullshit, and she was on to him now.

_Abort! Abort! Abort!_

"I mean…'great' as in 'he's a great guy who deserves a great girl'? Or 'great' as in 'he's a great tenor and should consider taking up with a barbershop quartet'? You see, there're varying degrees of greatness, so I'd appreciate it if you specified."

"Hmmm." Even when all the knots were gone from his hair, she continued to run the comb through it. "I'd have to go with the first one then. I've never heard Embry sing."

"Then you're in the privileged minority." Ugh. She'd picked the first one.

Yes, he most definitely must have been a kitten skinner in a past life.

"So," Jacob hedged, "Embry's a great a guy."

"And…he is paying you to advertise this? Is there a quota you're trying to fill?"

"What? No. No. Of course not."

Because _that_ didn't sound defensive.

"It's just that he's a great guy. And you're a great girl, er, woman."

"Aw, thanks, Jake." She finally set down the comb and picked up the scissors. "You're pretty great yourself."

He was glad she couldn't see the dopey grin that stretched across his face from ear to ear. He probably resembled a more handsome Embry.

"Oh," she snorted, "and 'great' as in 'you're a great friend who deserves better friends than the kind who make you chop off all your beautiful hair in a display of misplaced machoness.' I still think all of this is ridiculous."

Great friend. He was a great friend.

Someone, please direct him to the nearest pike so that he could impale himself. Over and over and over…

"Well," Jacob said, clapping his hands together in feigned enthusiasm. "Let's start getting this machoness misplaced then." He relaxed back in the chair.

Silence.

Continued silence.

More silence.

A cacophony of silence.

"Um, Bella?"

A muffled, gaspy noise carried over his shoulder. Jacob frowned. She was either sniffling or intently smelling his hair. Both were rather unsettling possibilities.

Her breath hitched again. His eyes widened.

"Are you…crying?"

Her voice quivered tellingly when she blubbered, "N-no."

Okay. Jacob had read something about this somewhere. A magazine article about women and mixed signals…If he remembered correctly, in the end, the advice for men had been to beg for forgiveness.

"I'm sorry?"

"No, no." Bella patted his shoulder, still sounding weepy. "It's not your fault. I mean, it _is_, but I can't really hold it against you because you're _supposed_ to be young and stupid." She cleared her throat and took a deep, slow breath that didn't ease his nerves in the least. "Okay, now I'm ready."

Jacob didn't bother with pointing out that she had called him 'stupid' again.

* * *

10:31

He was late. Embry was out on a date with Bella, and he was late. Her strict curfew on school nights was 10:30, so he'd advised Embry to have Bella home by ten in order to get in good with the chief—Charlie appreciated acknowledgments of his jurisdiction like that. Post-date rendezvous point was his room at 10:30, and Embry was now one, no TWO minutes late.

A lot could happen in two minutes.

What if he was late because they were so busy staring dreamily into each other's eyes that they didn't notice the time? What if they were…_kissing_? Jacob quickly squashed that mental image and the unpleasant tugging on his stomach, only to be bombarded with even worse scenarios. What if they weren't just kissing? What if they were full-on making out? What if they were rounding third and heading towards home? What if they'd decided to elope? What if she was in labor with his child? What if they were buying a house with a cute little picket fence and a dog on the porch? What if—

"Jake!"

He blinked up at Embry who was staring down at him in concern. "You okay? Wait, don't tell me. You were having one of your Megan Fox fantasies again, weren't you? Well, I feel that since you gave me some solid girl advice, it's only fair that I return the favor: aim lower. Much, much lower. In fact, don't aim at all. Just close your eyes and hope for the best."

Yeah, except every time he closed his eyes he saw Bella. "So, how'd it go?"

With a shit-eating grin Embry flopped down on the bed next to where Jacob was sitting, and rolled onto his back to stare up at the ceiling. "Perfect," he sighed. "Did you know that she's remarkably smart? She just whipped through her English paper on Elizabethan literature like it was nothing. I helped her a bit with Calc, and she gave me some solid pointers for my 'Lord of the Flies' essay. She really knows her stuff."

Normally, hearing someone rant about how amazing some girl was wouldn't have been very appealing to Jacob, but he found himself nodding along despite himself. Bella _was_ amazing.

The two had gone on a "study date"—yeah, wouldn't have been his first choice, but somehow it just fit Embry and, in a strange way, Bella—at the Forks library. It was a slow start, but at least it was something. Besides, the library was Bella's natural environment.

"So?" Jacob prodded.

"So what?"

"So how did _things_ go?" Jacob did his best to sound interested—which he was—and hopeful—which he wasn't.

Embry shrugged his broad shoulders. "I told you: perfect. We got a lot done and we had a good time."

Of course. Jacob had to remind himself that Embry wasn't some prick who just wanted to get into Bella's pants—though that would certainly have made things a lot easier for Jacob; he could punch a perverted prick. He couldn't punch a well-meaning Embry.

So, of course he didn't try to make a move on the first date—with loose application of the phrase 'date.' He knew Embry better than that.

Damn it.

"…cool with you?"

Um. _Sorry, I was too busy contemplating knocking your teeth out to catch what you said._ "Sure."

"Great. We'll probably get here around 7:00."

We?

The next night promptly at 7:00, Jacob opened his front door to find a heavily bundled Bella haphazardly sliding around on the thin layer of ice coating the Black's concrete front porch. An attempt to smile up at him while simultaneously staring down at her skating feet caused her face to contort into lopsided half-grimace that very nearly split her face in two.

"Hey, Jacob!" Adorable as hell.

He nodded, not bothering to hide his amusement at her predicament. "Need some help there, Bells?"

She looked up at him hopefully. "Please?"

Wrapping an arm around her tiny—even with the excessive layers of clothing—waist, he easily lifted her over the threshold into the small, toasty house. She began stripping immediately, removing a backpack, gloves, a hat, scarf, down coat, snow boots, wool sweater, snow pants, and two pairs of socks.

"Jeez, Bells. Planning an Arctic excursion without me?"

She sniffed, raising her small, red nose in the air. "It's a lot colder here than Phoenix."

"Sure. Sure." He had a feeling it had more to do with the fact that she was just _so small_. Not much body heat to be had.

And as if she heard his insincerity, she rolled her eyes heavenward and smiled in amusement. Then she lugged her book bag back up over her shoulder. "Are we setting up shop in the kitchen?"

There was that 'we' again.

When he remained silent, she frowned—which she always did with her entire face—and headed off in the direction of the kitchen anyway. "You are studying with us, aren't you?"

Why did people keep asking him questions he didn't know the answer to? "I don't wanna intrude."

She ducked back into the living room sans books. "Unless you plan on doing your chemistry homework out loud, I really don't think that'll be a problem."

"Oh, you know how I feel about elements. You start talking protons and neutrons, and I just can't contain myself. The periodic table is meant to be screamed, not read."

She shook her head and disappeared into the kitchen again. Her voice was muffled when she called, "You want marshmallows with your hot chocolate, Jake?"

He grinned. "Am I the best lookin' guy in town?"

"So that'd be a 'no'."

Jacob nearly jumped out of his skin at the sound of Embry's voice behind him.

He whirled around, a hand pressed to his chest. "Gah! Would it kill you to make some noise?"

Embry dropped his backpack to the floor and swept his arms dramatically in front of him. "All hail the arrival of the mighty Embry Call! He sweeps into the house like a blizzard claiming the Sahara! O, divert your eyes from his blinding brilliance! Seek refuge if you dare—"

Jacob swatted him upside the head. "Shut the fuck up."

"Hey, Embry." Cautiously making her way into the living room, Bella took slow, measured steps while balancing a tray of three hot chocolates. Jacob and Embry both quickly moved to relieve her of two of them.

Staring down into his mug, Jacob smiled smugly. "Oh, look, Embry. Marshmallows."

He didn't quite catch his friend's muttered response.

"Oh!" Bella jerked, slightly sloshing hot chocolate unto her thumb. Wincing, she shook the burned appendage before jamming it in her mouth. Jacob fought the urge to take the mug from her hand, instead allowing Embry to claim it a moment later.

"You all right?"

"Yeah," she muttered, moving into the kitchen to turn on the tap. The boys followed, taking their places at the table. Jacob consciously took a seat on the opposite side of where Bella had dumped her things earlier. He had a sinking feeling that he wasn't going to get much done in the way of homework.

Bella joined then a moment later. "Sorry about that. I'd just remembered that I brought you something."

Embry's eyebrows shot up. "Something for me?"

"Yes." She pulled her backpack up into her lap and began rummaging through it.

Embry caught Jacob's eyes over the table, mouthed, 'Should I have gotten her something?'

Jacob could only shrug. He might've been more experienced than his friend when it came to girls, but he wasn't exactly sure what the expectations were as far as 'post study date' gifts went.

"Ah ha!" Bella held a worn paperback book triumphantly in her hand. "Lord of the Flies. I read it for class a couple of years ago. My teacher was really big about us taking notes in the margins and underlining things. Like here it explains the allusion and here're all the metaphors in the passage. So I, um…" She flushed as if just then realizing how nerdy she was being. "Well, uh, you know, if you'd like to look over it…or not."

Embry took the novel from her hands with all the reverence of Moses accepting the Ten Commandment from God Almighty. Jacob was kind of wishing for him to start sprouting white hair.

"Wow, Bella. This is great." He began gently leafing through the dog-eared pages. His eyes solemnly met hers. "I promise to return it to you in perfect condition."

Was he kidding? The thing looked like it'd already been through the washer. Twice.

Bella waved him off. "No worries. You can keep it."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

The two shared a small, mutual smile that said things Jacob couldn't hear, and he cleared his throat uncomfortably.

Bella visibly flinched back into reality and began pulling notebooks out of her bag. Embry just as casually cracked open a textbook.

Jacob had been correct in assuming he wouldn't get any real work done. He was much too distracted trying not to look like he was watching the two people across the table from him.

He was surprised. No, he was more than surprised. He was shocked.

Embry was playing it cool.

Embry—the guy who was infamous for word-vomiting all over members of the opposite sex—was playing it cool with Bella Swan. He didn't babble about German artillery when she asked him a question about tactics in WWI, and he didn't keep up a constant stream of mindless chatter to fill the silence, only soliciting her opinion on his paper every once in a while and once asking if she wanted something else to drink.

But as much as he wasn't talking, he was _definitely_ doing other things.

Like every time Bella asked Embry for help, he'd lean in and use _her_ pencil to draw an example, even if it meant he had to lay down his own _fully-functional_ one. Their chairs kept getting closer, and closer, and closer until finally, they stopped being two chairs and became a single bench seat—who the hell uses a bench seat at a kitchen table anymore?—and Bella and Embry were wedged shoulder to shoulder. This ended up being quite the predicament because Bella was right-handed and Embry was a lefty, so their elbows kept knocking together. Once Embry actually winced when she "accidentally" caught him in the ribs, and they both promptly dissolved into a fit of giggles when he accused her of using Totalitarian tactics.

Whatever the hell _that_ meant.

But what was really impressive—and Jacob had to applaud Embry here—was the following exchange:

Bella: "My teacher looked over my rough draft and said that my paper lacked a 'voice.' He said I didn't sound sympathetic to the Jews' plight."

Embry: "Well, are you?"

Bella: "Yeah, I mean, what they went through was so atrocious that I can't even imagine the effect it had on them. And that's the problem. I can't empathize."

Embry: "Hmm. Have you ever seen _Schindler's List_?"

Bella: "No, but I heard it was really depressing."

Embry: "So, it'd be perfect. We actually have a copy at home. You could come over tomorrow and watch it, while I finish up the final draft of my English paper. My mom won't get home till late, so she won't bother us."

Bella: "Actually, that'd be great. It'll be Friday, so Charlie won't mind me being out late."

Embry: "Perfect. And when we're sitting, alone watching a depressing movie, you can cry on my muscular shoulder while I subtly try to make a move towards first base."

Bella: "First? Let's just save some time and head straight for home. Please, Embry, take me!"

Okay, so, maybe the last couple of lines weren't exactly said _aloud_, but it was implied with another one of their secretive smile things.

Jacob couldn't believe that Embry had just gotten Bella to agree to come over to his house alone, while his mom wasn't home, to watch a movie—in the dark—with him, alone. With no one to hear her screams.

Of terror. Screams of TERROR.

Jacob wished he'd just word-vomited on her instead.

* * *

Jacob never found out what actually happened that Friday night—Bella got an 'A' on her paper, so it couldn't have been too much fun—but a week later, at the bonfire on First Beach, Bella and Embry arrived together. Holding hands.

Jacob wasn't the only person not exactly thrilled.

"What! Embry? Embry!" Quil huffed. "But I totally had dibs! Not cool."

Jacob's muttered "tell me about it" went unheard.

"This breaks at least three Man Laws. Wait, no, FOUR Man Laws!"

Paul snorted. "You know you actually have to be a man for the Man Laws to apply, right?"

"I think they're good together."

Jacob turned bug-eyed to his sister. Had she just…said something nice?

Rachel sniffed. "Well, she's not that pretty, and Embry's kind of annoying, so it evens out."

Nope. False alarm.

Jacob decided to wait it out. High school relationships didn't last forever. They'd be over it in a few weeks.

* * *

Jacob was kneeling over the front bumper of the Rabbit, buffing out the wide array of scratches that littered the used part, when a slim pair of arms drooped around his neck from behind and a warm set of lips whispered, "Three minutes."

The affection of the breath stirring along his neck caused him to shiver uncontrollably.

Turning, he grinned at the set of sparkling chocolate eyes. "Perfect."

He grabbed Bella's hand, towed her out of the garage and pulled her in through the back door of the house. The sheer volume of the raucous that greeted them was overwhelming.

Pushing through the crowd of bodies, Jacob scanned the living room for… "Quil!"

The brawny teen greeted them with a raised glass. "Bella! Jake! This party is going to be wicked. Someone spiked the punch!"

"Quil, Big Boy ETA two minutes."

He cursed and climbed up on one of the kitchen chairs. A shrill whistle pierced the air, and everyone turned to stare at him in annoyance. "Hey! Big Boy is touching down in one minute!"

There was a beat of silence before the room doubled in volume, people chaotically scurrying around trying to find decent places to hide. Bella started toward the back of the couch, but Jacob snapped her back in the opposite direction with a shake of his head. "Too obvious."

Instead he opened the door to coat closet where Seth Clearwater was crouched amongst the rain boots. "Out," Jacob ordered, jerking a thumb over his shoulder.

Seth pouted. "But I was here first."

"My house. My closet. My hiding spot. Out."

Bella frowned after Seth as he scurried towards the kitchen. "That wasn't very nice."

Jacob shrugged and pulled her into the closet. "Sometimes, Bells, in dire situations you have to resort to brutal tactics to get what you want." The door closed behind them with a quiet click.

"And this situation is dire enough to exorcise your hero status on an impressionable 14-year-old boy?" she whispered, subconsciously lowering her voice in the dark, confined space.

"Now, I don't think Seth would appreciate you calling him impressionable—wait, you think I'm heroic?"

A sharp pain shot through his toes.

"Oops."

Well, that was the most insincere 'oops' he'd ever heard. And if he squinted, he could sort of see the outline of her smile through the darkness. "You know two can play at tha—" He was cut off by her fingers on his lips.

Jacob's brain short-circuited for a full five seconds.

He couldn't count the number of times he'd thought about touching Bella with his lips—on her hair, her temple, the tip of her nose, along her neck, her full pink mouth—and now that it was happening, he sort of forgot where he was, and why he was there in the first place. His mouth parted infinitesimally, causing the tip of one slim finger to just barely slip inside…

And then the door wrenched open, allowing in the blinding light. "Surprise!"

He blinked then remembered to step out from behind Bella, who was grinning at a wide-eyed Embry. Jacob forced a smile. Everyone else erupted from their own hiding places—The floor lamp? Really, Jared?—breaking out in sporadic exclamations of "Happy birthday!"

Embry continued to gap incomprehensibly. "What…I don't…me?"

Quil stepped forward, clapped him on the back. "You know, most people get more articulate with age. It seems you've regressed. Regressed means 'the backward movement—"

"I know what regressed means!" Any insult he may have felt was overruled by the smile fighting to stretch across his face. With shinning eyes he turned back towards Bella who was smiling shyly at him. "Sweetheart?"

When Embry called Bella "Sweetheart" it didn't sound cutesy and obnoxious; it sounded like he was saying "Bella," just with different syllables. In fact the two words became so indistinguishable that sometimes Jacob slipped and called her sweetheart too.

"Do you like it? I mean, I thought the streamers and balloons were a bit much, but Jake insisted that at long as they had Batman on them, you would…"

Embry wrapped his arms around her, and pressed a gentle kiss to her babbling lips. "It's perfect."

Bella flushed but looked immensely pleased.

"And you!" Jacob jumped when he realized Embry was pointing at him. "You, sly bastard. Come here!"

A genuine grin made its way onto Jacob's face, as his friend pulled him in for a massive bear hug—any guilt he felt over almost sucking on his girlfriend's finger had to be pushed down deep with other forbidden emotions. "You aren't going to kiss me too, are you?"

"Of course not. It's _my_ birthday, Jake, not yours. You don't get any gifts." He released him with a chuckle and drew Bella back to his side. "I should have known you two were up to no good. All that skulking around you've been doing together the last couple of weeks had me worried that I'd have to beat the shit out of you, Jake."

_I really, really wish you had a reason to._ _It'd so be worth it._ "Sorry to disappoint you, Embry, but Bella and I aren't running off together until your _19__th_birthday. And, trust me, you won't see it coming."

Bella's lips pursed together in mock irritation. "And how come I'm just now hearing about this?"

"Oh," Quill easily jumped into the conversation, "that's because Jacob left out the part where you won't see it coming either. He figures that you'll be much more cooperative if you're drugged and unconscious when he steals off with you in the middle of the night. And I tend to agree."

Jacob frowned. "Wow, Quil, thanks for making me sound so incredibly desperate. Of course I wouldn't drug Bella. I'll just tell her that I lost my dog and ask her to get into my car in order to help me find him. If that doesn't work, I plan on bribing her with Skittles."

Quil looked pointedly at Bella. "Two words: stranger danger."

Chest puffed out impressively, Embry stepped forward, shielding Bella behind his splayed arms. "Don't worry, Sweetheart, I'll protect you from the sticky-Skittle-fingered man looking for his so-called 'dog'—which I can only assume is some sort of perverse sexual reference because as we all know, he doesn't even have a dog. Don't you fret your pretty little head over it, baby."

"I could always _get_ a dog."

"Hey, Bella," Quil leered, "when you're done helping Jacob find _his _dog, you wanna help me find _mine_?"

She peeked out from beneath Embry's shoulder. "Um…I don't think I want to help either of you, really."

"All right," Embry interceded, "it's time to say goodbye to the bad men now, Bella. I smell cheesecake." He easily hoisted her up over his shoulder and marched away with a jostled Bella waving back at the amused duo.

The house couldn't contain two dozen rambunctious teenagers for long, so eventually the festivities spilled over onto First Beach. It was summer, the weather warm enough for swimming, and when it started getting dark, a wobbly Quil deemed it imperative to get a fire going in case any of the tipsy girls got the inclination to strip off their clothes and dance around it naked—it was at this point in time which Jacob was forced to dump the rest of the mystery punch over the rocks (if Quil fell unconscious into the open flames, _he _would be the one to get shit for it).

All in all it was a pretty good time.

And Jacob _was_ having a good time. Really. After all, Bella-watching was one of his favorite activities. But that evening as he discreetly followed her with his eyes, he couldn't help but feel…uneasy.

She looked beautiful—she always looked beautiful—stumbling around in her little white sundress that Emily had made her, as she chatted pleasantly with guests and played hostess (only Bella could find a way to do that at a public beach). At one point she got pulled aside by Leah Clearwater for a ten minute heart-to-heart, but mostly she stuck to Embry's side, quiet and smiling as she held his hand.

Every once in a while she'd pass close enough to the fire so that the light would play over the paleness of her skin, causing it to glow tantalizingly. And every time Jacob felt his heartbeat stutter.

He'd been in love with Bella Swan for two years.

He'd loved Embry for 17 years.

Bella and Embry had been dating for six months.

And no matter how the numbers got added up, Jacob was completely screwed.

Bella and Embry were his best friends. End of story.

* * *

**AN:** So this isn't going to be a long, drawn out affair. Gonna try to keep things moving, and I imagine the story will end up being six or seven parts long, depending on how it gets broken up. I plan on posting one part a week (probably even through the holidays) unless something crazy happens in RL. Thanks for reading, and don't be shy about leaving feedback. :)

This story can also be read on A Different Forest and LiveJournal (links in my profile). I post teasers and ramblings via my twitter: majestamoniet


	2. Part Two

For I Am Captured Straight to You

You may want to check out this short video if you're having trouble understanding what's happening in the beginning. ;)

www[dot]youtube[dot]com/watch?v=XHdXG2gV01k

* * *

**PART TWO**

"Where're the CHEETOS?"

"Right next to you."

"I cast a spell!"

"Where's the Mountain Dew?"

"In the fridge! Duh!"

"I wanna cast a spell!

"Can I have a Mountain Dew?"

Jacob was going to rip his ears out. He was going to rip his ears out, walk into the living room, shove them down Quil and Embry's throats, and laugh maniacally they as suffocated on his ratty, old carpet.

"Hey, Graham, I'm not in the room, right?"

"What room?"

"I wanna cast magic missile."

"The room where he's casting all of these spells from."

"He hasn't cast anything yet."

Nope. Choking to death on his bloody ears was too nice a way to go. Gruesome, sure. But not painful enough. Jacob eyed the serrated knife in Bella's hand.

"Why are you casting magic missile? There's nothing to attack here."

"I…I'm attacking the darkness."

Obnoxious laughter.

Jacob quite accurately pictured Quil and Embry crowded in front of Embry's laptop, watching that _fucking_ YouTube video on mute while they made complete asses of themselves doing the voices. You couldn't even do it right with just two people.

"I am Galstaff, Sorcerer of Light!"

"Then how come you had to cast magic missile?"

MORE obnoxious laughter.

Jacob's left eye twitched. Bella, who was slicing up some exotic-looking loaf of bread at the kitchen counter, just smiled and shook her head, murmuring something about "silly boys" and "better them than me."

Jacob couldn't find it in himself to agree.

"Y- Y- Y- You guys are being attacked."

"Do I see that happening?"

"No! You're outside by the tavern."

"Cool! I get drunk!"

"There are…there are seven ogres surrounding you."

Slamming his pencil down on the table, Jacob groaned in annoyance. "Those stupid fu—"

"Jake, can you set the table for me?" Bella chirped. "The soup's almost ready."

Ugh. "Sure."

He dramatically pulled his Pre-calculus book from the table, dropped it to the floor with a loud 'thud,' stomped over to one of the over-head cabinets, and angrily stole the ceramic bowls from the shelf. He scowled when the door didn't bang shut like he'd intended.

"But you never actually cast it."

"Roll the dice to see if I'm getting drunk!"

"Ugh. Yeah you are."

"Are there any girls there?"

"Yeah!"

Bella ignored all of Jacob's Neanderthal-like grunts and sighs as he trudged loudly around the room getting silverware and cups. Choosing not to acknowledge the fact that he was acting like an attention-starved two-year-old, she hummed off-key while turning off the stove and carefully grabbing the steaming vat of soup between two singed potholders that Jacob's mother had bought when he was in the second grade. "Boys! Dinner's ready!"

Despite the fact that Bella lacked anything that resembled an "outdoor voice"—even her "indoor voice" was lacking, more closely resembling a "church voice" than anything else really—Quil and Embry still waltzed into the room three seconds later. Still in character.

"OGRES! Man, I got an ogre slaying knife!" Embry crowed, brandishing a closed umbrella. "It's got a +9 against ogres!"

Quil snatched it from his hand and shoved him down into a chair. "You're not there, you're getting DRUNK!"

A cute, little surprised squeak escaped Bella as Embry suddenly snagged her waist to pull her onto his lap. Lips pressed to her ear, he whined, "Ok, but if there're any girls there I wanna do them!"

Jacob adored it when her cheeks got all pink like that. Bella's blushes were small like everything else about her—except her eyes, which were the size of fucking planets, and her lips, which were…pressed to Embry's ear.

He watched as she continued to whisper to him even as Embry began making up both of their plates, and Jacob was masochistic enough to wonder what she was saying.

Because Jacob Black was a voyeur. Not in the perverted sense that he hid in the tree house just outside Embry's room to watch them make out (_just_ making out—Embry was still very much the epitome of 13-year-old virgin girl), but in the pathetic sense that he blatantly watched them touch each other in public.

Not that they were touching each other like _that_. It was more like they were both slightly retarded magnets whose fields took some time finding one another, but when they did it was like _ZING_, and suddenly Embry's hand is in her hair and Bella's tracing the entire alphabet on his back with her fingers (yeah, the whole fucking alphabet, and sometimes she did it backwards…in French).

"Jacob, my man, we were hurting there without you," Quil garbled over a mouthful of salad. "Embry can't pull off a decent Cheeto voice worth shit."

But Embry was too pleased that he'd defeated Bella's attempts to wiggle into her own seat to give a damn about what Quil had to say. He just shrugged and grinned smugly. "What can I say? I was born to be Nightblade."

Bella groaned. "Please tell me that isn't your _only_ aspiration in life."

Still smarting from the earlier fuckery, Jacob retorted, "Of course not. He also wants to learn how to touch his tongue to his nose, get laid sometime before he's forty, and name his first born son 'The Batman.' I'm telling you, Bells, he's a keeper, this one. Big dreams."

Jacob relished in the glare Embry skewered him with. It only added to his delight that Bella was ineffectively trying to stifle her snickers.

"The Batman Call." She grinned and affectionately squeezed her arms around Embry's neck. He was still violently stabbing Jacob with his eyes. "Aw, that's cute, Em."

Well _that_ certainly caused him to perk right up. "Really? You like it? So, do you think we could—"

"Nope."

Jacob took a long, triumphant slurp of his soup. Yum.

Something rubber and size eleven connected painfully with his shin. Jacob choked. "What the—"

"So have you guys heard anything about why Paul wasn't in school all week?" Embry nonchalantly began buttering a piece of bread. "We're supposed to be starting our biology project tomorrow."

Quil shrugged and swallowed down a massive gulp of soup. "He's Mad Paul. He can do whatever the hell he wants. Bella, these wormy things are delicious. What are they?"

"Noodles," she replied, showing off her multi-tasking abilities as she simultaneously answered Quil's stupid, numskull questions while rolling up the sleeves of Embry's shirt to his elbows AND sliding into her own chair—which Embry promptly pulled flush against his.

The bench seat. The fucking bench seat. Those two chairs _had_ to be suffering from an identity crisis.

"Who's Paul?" Bella asked.

"_Mad_ Paul," Quil corrected.

"Why is he mad?"

Quil shrugged. "No one knows. He's just big on the Three Gs: Glaring, Grunting, and Grinding his teeth. Real caveman like. Probably shouldn't be allowed to run free in public."

Bella caught Jacob's eye questioningly, but he could only shake his head. Where Quil came up with that shit from was anyone's guess.

"He's not that bad," Embry defended, and Jacob had to agree. From what he'd heard from his dad, Paul had a hard time at home. His father had died two years back, and his mother hadn't taken it well. She alternated her time between the bar where she worked and the couch where she drank.

Jacob shrugged. "He probably just caught whatever Jared had a couple weeks ago."

"Dickheaditis?"

"Quil!" Bella scolded as if he'd just wiped his ass with the Old Testament.

Freaky Talent Number Three: Bella could make a _rock_ feel guilty for disrespecting Jesus. And she'd only ever been to church twice.

So, of course, Quil looked appropriately chastised. "Sorry, Bella." For four seconds. "But maybe Sam Uley should get a shot so he stops spreading that shit around. Ever since he missed all that school, Jared's been on Sam's nuts like a white kid on Lunchables. And this morning I saw Paul heading into Sam's house on my way to school. He looked reeeeeeal healthy to me. And from the look of him, I'd say there's a fair chance he's working part time as a Schwarzenegger impersonator."

Over on their bench seat, Bella and Embry frowned and turned to each other in unison.

"Probably means he won't show up to work on the project tomorrow."

"Well, I get out of class at 1:30, so I can stop by and help. In case he doesn't show."

"What about—"

"It won't take me long."

"Chicken?"

"I'll probably just go directly to Sue's."

"Could you stop at the store?"

"Make a list. But no explosives. Or alcohol."

"Or asparagus."

"You've never even tried it! I make it special."

"Very, very special. Poor Seth nearly died."

"Only because he refused to keep it in his mouth long enough to chew it before swallowing. And Seth only eats foods that are a shade of brown, so you can't take his word for it."

"Masticate."

"Oh, good one."

"So, tomorrow at four."

"5:30."

"5:30 without asparagus."

Yeah. They were one of _those_ couples. Normally it took a few years for two people to establish the type of telepathic link that Bella and Embry demonstrated on a daily basis, but just eight months into their relationship they were finishing each other's sentences and playing some obscenely nerdy thesaurus challenge quest thingy with their vocabularies. Game nights on the Rez had turned into staging grounds for mass slaughterings, Charades, Pictionary, and Taboo the tools by which Bella and Embry single-handedly raped and pwned every brave soul they faced.

Jacob only considered the term "_single_-handedly" to be appropriate because when their minds melded into one (okay, it was less of a melding and more of Embry's mind piggybacking on top of Bella's), they became a four-eyed and eight-appendaged being known as…

_EMBRELLA!_

Even when forced onto separate teams, they kept blurting out the answers—Embry—or used clues and references that only the other would be deranged enough to ever figure out—Embry _and_ Bella.

But as obnoxious as it could be to get creamed every other Saturday night by Regis and Kelly, Jacob couldn't bring himself to actually _mind_. He saw their eagerness for one another, their desire to inhabit each other's orbits, and their instinct to always be touching—which they never fought.

And almost as often as Embrella made an appearance, Embrellacob (which unfortunately sounded less like a two-headed monster and more like a sexually transmitted disease) could be found terrorizing the masses as well. Because Embry and Bella were like an amoeba. Yeah, they were a two-headed monster of an amoeba—one of those blobby puddles of jell-o you could only see through a microscope and that consumed its food through endocytosis (why, yes, Jacob had gotten a B+ on his last biology quiz) when it used its membrane to absorb the particles it touched.

And who wouldn't like swimming in a puddle of jell-o?

Embry was always there when he needed help rebuilding a part for the Rabbit or when he needed help sneaking a peak at Old Quil's moonshine recipe; Bella was there to keep him honest with his school work and to indirectly remind him that he did in fact possess more hormones than he did brain cells; Quil was there to makes sure he didn't act _too_ safe or mature and to trash talk about the assholes on the Rez—like Sam Uley; Leah (whom Jacob didn't particularly care for, but whom Bella insisted on dragging around since The Great Breakup) scowled and blew cigarette smoke in his face.

Other kids from school came and went, and all in all Jacob imagined he got in and out of more fuckery than any teenager had a right to.

And he could hold Bella Swan's hand whenever he damn well pleased.

* * *

Jacob was collapsed on his living room couch, staring listlessly at the screen of the square, hulking television that had been sitting on the same little wooden table for as long as he could remember—back even before Power Rangers had been a good TV show to watch on Saturday mornings. Leah was slouched in Billy's recliner, unenthusiastically flipping through the seven channels over and over again as if it were going to change the fact that they didn't have cable. Jacob wished she would just stay on Yu-Gi-Oh. That cartoon chick was kinda hot.

"God, this is pathetic," Leah mused to herself in disgust. "Standing outside the library twenty minutes early waiting for it to open would be a more socially acceptable way of spending my Saturday than sitting here with you."

He shrugged lazily, the insult hardly registering in his mind as he tried to count the number of times the picture flashing across the screen showed someone smiling. "Then go to the library."

And good riddance.

"I said that it would be less embarrassing, not more fun."

Four. Four smiling people. Were four out of seven people actually smiling at any given moment? Maybe that was just what The Man wanted the world to believe. "You think hanging out with me is fun? Leah, I had no idea you felt that way."

"Nothing," she continued, "is more fun than watching you jizz in your pants every time Bella bends over to tie her shoe."

Eyes still on the TV, he reached for the cup of orange juice on the coffee table and took a large gulp. "Really? More fun than locking yourself in your room, pulling all the shades down, and writing angsty gothic poetry? You know, where love is an autumn flower and Sam's the unrelenting, cold-hearted winter freeze come to wither—"

A throw pillow was put to exemplary use, but it bounced off his chest harmlessly.

"—you away so that the ice of his callousness creeps into your heart and into your loins—"

"Shut the fuck up, Black!"

"—turning your desire barren for any other man who'd come to pollinate your—"

The front door opened and his mouth snapped closed. Billy was supposed to be gone on a fishing trip with Charlie and Harry for most of the day, but Jacob wasn't going to risk being banned from the garage for an entire week (which was exactly what had happened the last time he'd gotten caught letting Leah know what he really thought of her).

But it wasn't his dad who turned the corner from the hall; it was Bella. And she didn't stand in the entryway any longer than it took to scan the room and furrow her brow before disappearing into the kitchen.

Jacob waved at the empty space she'd so briefly occupied. "Hey, Bells. Nice to see you. Yeah, I'm doing fantastic. How was your week? Oh, that's too bad. But keep your chin up! I'm sure next week will be better. Of course I'll give you a back massage."

Bella reappeared and this time deposited her book bag on the floor against the wall like she usually did. "Where's Embry?"

Jacob shrugged. "Don't know. But he didn't show up to school yesterday, so he's probably at home still pretending he's sick." Mrs. Call had been less than pleased the last time she found out Embry had skipped school, so Jacob couldn't blame Embry for taking extra precautions.

But Bella was shaking her head and frowning gravely. "I just stopped over there. His mom said she hadn't seen him since dinner on Thursday night. She assumed that he'd come here after school yesterday and ended up staying the night. Did you say he didn't go to school?"

Jacob shrunk under the stare of her narrowed eyes. Now that he thought about it, that was probably a tidbit of information he should have kept to himself. "Well…I mean…I never_ saw_ him, but maybe we just missed each other."

"You have three classes together."

"Embry's deceivingly stealthy for his size. He is double jointed after all."

"You eat at the same lunch table."

"You make it sound like it's a date. It's not like we _plan_ together to sit at the same table every day. It just so _happens_ that once we get our food, we _usually_ end up heading over to the same side of the cafeteria, and there's only so many safe places to sit. We're not girls. We don't agree to have lunch together; it just happens to work out that way. Most of the time. Maybe Embry ate with Mad Paul yesterday. Or maybe he ate outside.

Leah turned to Bella. "They sit together at the same table every day. Embry wasn't at school."

Jacob scowled at the betrayal, but Leah answered with a slick smile.

"Chicks before dicks."

"Then where is he?" Bella demanded, and Jacob had no idea why the question would be directed so accusingly at _him_.

"I've got no idea," Jacob defended and even went so far as to raise his hands in surrender when it looked like she didn't believe him. Arms crossed and lips slightly pursed, she regarded him sharply.

Freaky talent seven hundred and eighty-four billion zillion quadrillion gazillion: Bella had a built in lie detector—that only worked on defenseless Quileute boys and painfully transparent police chiefs. It had a 99.6% accuracy rating. (The other .4% was something that was never ever discussed. Ever. Because the body of Quil's cat Chicken Little was still missing, and as far as Bella knew, the little feline was living with an uncle in South Dakota.)

Reluctantly satisfied that the warning bells hadn't gone off during her inspection, Bella sighed as her hands dropped. "Where would be a good place to look?"

"You've checked your bed, right?" Leah leered.

Bella blanched the color of porcelain, causing the red slowly seeping into her cheeks to stand out alarmingly. Jacob gallantly returned the throw pillow to the side of Leah's face.

"It was a _joke_, Jacob," Leah condescended while batting the cushion away. "Your Bella's still the poster child of a blushing virgin. Won't even say 'penis' out loud."

For a moment Jacob was so caught up in a world where Bella was _your Bella_ that he didn't see _Embry's Bella_ contemplating the living room floor as if planning to melt and seep between the wooden cracks. Didn't see her biting her lip and blinking her eyes.

"Maybe, um," Bella began once she had found her voice, "maybe he's at Quil's. I'll give him a call." She pulled out her cell phone—the one Charlie had insisted on getting her when it became clear she would be driving back and forth to Port Angeles every day for classes at Peninsula College—and began prodding at the tiny buttons.

Jacob leapt to his feet and snatch phone away. "We'll go over in person. Chances are if Embry's at Quil's, it's because he figures you know that he skipped school, and he's too chicken shit to face you. Calling will only give him time to hide. Successful infiltration will require sneakiness, careful planning, and professionalism." He glanced down at himself. "Just let me change out of my pajama pants."

Embry wasn't at Quil's. In fact Quil was still sleeping when Jacob and Bella climbed through his window. While Bella checked the rest of the house, Jacob found a black marker on the floor and doodled cat whiskers on Quil's face.

_That_ would teach him to leave food in the Rabbit's glove compartment for a month.

"Quil Sr. said he hadn't seen Embry in a couple of day." Bella's whispered voice interrupted Jacob quiet snickers. "But then he said he was sure Embry was just fine and that I shouldn't worry about looking for him because he'd come around when he was ready to be found. It was really strange. What are you doing?"

"Oh, just…"—he slipped the marker under Quil's pillow—"looking at these strange markings on Quil's face. Almost looks like he dressed up as a cat or…yeah, I think that's actually the only explanation. Oh, Quil, what will we ever do with you? You're a four-year-old trapped in the body of a six-year-old steroid junkie."

"He must really miss Chicken Little," she mused. And Jacob felt a wave of pride and affection because he knew exactly where she'd leaned to tease like that with a straight face.

Nonetheless the subject was taboo. "Um, yeahthatmustbeit. So, no Embry? We'll have to look somewhere else then."

"Where?" Bella muttered morosely but headed for the window regardless.

Jacob thought about reminding her that it was safe to use the front door, but then the hem of her shirt rode up, and the back of her jeans slid down as she swung a leg over the sill, and he shut his mouth.

They spent three hours searching the Rez. They knocked on a dozen different doors, walked the length of the entire beach, scouted the trails, and turned over more than a few large rocks. At first Jacob found it to be an enjoyable Saturday diversion. Bella's nervous chatter eventually dwindled into a determined silence, and in the back of his mind, Jacob imagined Embry was in some isolated little cave doing physics problems on the walls with finger paint or rehearsing an audition for the school play—which he would never actually follow through with. But slowly the amusement began slipping away into contemplation, and contemplation gave way to concern.

Embry wasn't _anywhere_.

Bella spent a good five minutes staring over edge of one of La Push's many cliffs, but once Jacob realized exactly what she was wondering, he quickly decided that they had done as much searching as would be useful. And it was time for lunch any way.

They stopped by Embry's house on the way back to Jacob's, and his mom frowned and tugged nervously at the sleeves of her shirt when they explained they hadn't been able to find her son. She told them, "Thank you for looking. I'll call if he comes home, and if he's not back by tonight, I'll report him missing."

Bella wanted to stay at Embry's place and wait there, but Jacob managed to convince her that making them something to eat would help take her mind off things, and they trudged off, feet heavy with their failure. When Jacob opened his front door to find Quil—his scowl outlined with faded cat whiskers—on the other side, he couldn't even work up the amusement to properly gloat over his own cunning.

* * *

"And you checked the shed behind Wilma's?"

"Yes."

"Travis got a new TV. Did you check his house?"

"Yes."

"What about the trail that heads up through—"

"Yes."

"The backroom at—"

"Yes! I told you: we checked _everywhere_."

There were many times in Jacob's young life when he wanted to throw Quil Atera through a second story window. This was one of those times. And Jacob took a few moments to lament not having a second floor.

Quil reclined back in the couch while stuffing a handful of cheese puffs into his mouth. "Dichu chuck Bewas hoss?"

That brought Jacob up short. And Bella, who had been studiously sitting at the coffee table, not outlining her English essay, perked up like a Foxhound catching the fading trail of a rabbit.

"We never left the Reservation," she said slowly, sounding hopeful. The brightness, which usually inhabited Bella's eyes, but had been conspicuously absent for the past several hours, sparked back to life.

Jacob felt a little guilty about playing devil's advocate. "Why would he be at your house if he's hiding from you?"

"Heswhite," Quil garbled, still crunching away. "Emwie dunnant halv shi fer brais. Luggy baster ."

Bella was already closing her notebook and getting to her feet. "Exactly. He knows that I always spend Saturdays here and that Charlie fishes. So the house is empty."

"How'dhe gitin?"

"He knows where we keep the spare key."

So did Jacob. It was in a little slot inside their mailbox. He and Embry had used it once in order to borrow Charlie's spare pair of handcuffs while the Chief was out of town and Bella was in Port Angeles for class. Of course, they'd had to use it again to return them the next day. This had him wondering just what exactly Embry was doing in their house. All day. Alone. Unsupervised.

Jacob was struck by a sudden chivalrous urge to protect Bella's underwear drawer. "Well, there's no harm in going to check."

Bella gathered her backpack in a hurry while Jacob tried to locate his elusive shoes. If Embry _was_ at Bella's, there was no way Jacob was going to miss her tearing into him for not getting in touch with her or his mom. Bella rarely yelled. But when she did, it was a thing of beauty. Her face would go perfectly still, her hands tensed into little fists at her side, and sometimes she stamped her foot. The pink that flushed her cheeks when she was embarrassed, darkened and spread down to her chest when she was furious. Then her eyes would narrow into ridiculously intimidating points, and just before she opened her mouth to shout—which was more of a husky exclamation, her tongue would dart out to lick the perspiration from her lips.

It was with no small amount of anticipation that Jacob retrieved his sandals from under the kitchen table and grabbed Bella's hand as they left Quil to lick his cheese-stained fingers in front of the television.

She started moving off to where the Beast was parked out front, but Jacob pulled her in the direction of the garage. "We'll take the Rabbit."

"What about my truck?"

"You can get it tomorrow when Charlie comes over for the Clearwater's fish fry. Chances are Embry just hitched a ride into Forks this morning, so he and I are gonna need some sort of getaway car to ride back in. Might as well be something classy."

His proud swagger momentarily distracted her from the anxiety of the day. She smiled knowingly. "I thought the Rabbit died on the road up to the store a few days ago."

Jesus Christ. Did Embry have to tell her _everything_?

"I fixed it." Reluctantly he released her so that she could get into the passenger side. "And if it breaks down again, it's a good thing you have an in with a talented mechanic who has no qualms working shirtless. Road-side service _and_ a nice view."

Bella made a face that would have been offensive if not for the faint pink rushing into color her cheek bones. Jacob took moments like those as small, personal victories in a game he was the only one playing.

Throwing the car into drive, Jacob pulled out onto the main drag that ran through the Reservation. He was sort of watching the road but mostly brainstorming other ways to get Bella to unconsciously admit her physical attraction to him when her anxious voice had him hitting the breaks.

"Stop! Jake, stop the car!"

She was out of her seatbelt and opening her door while the tires were still rolling.

"Bella, what—"

And then he saw through the passenger window. Embry was walking across the front lawn of Emily Young's house. And he wasn't alone.

Pulling off to the side of the road, Jacob put the car in park, killed the engine and hesitantly got out. For a moment, all he could do was stare incomprehensibly at the site of Embry strutting around shirtless and barefoot with three other guys all in a similar state of undress.

His first coherent thought was: _What the hell had they been doing together in woods?_

His second was: _Quil was right; Mad Paul does look like he's well on his way to being the next body builder with an obnoxious Austrian accent and an embarrassing acting career._

Followed closely by his third: _And so does Embry._

Jacob couldn't be certain, but it almost looked as if Embry had _grown_ since the last time he saw his best friends a few days ago. This seemingly ridiculous suspicion was rather disturbingly confirmed as he watched Bella march up to Embry, her form shrinking with the approach of his towering figure. The top of her head barely reached his shoulder.

Jacob felt his eyes widen almost painfully. Bella's head has _always_ reached Embry's chin. Embry _always _wrapped his arms around her from behind and laid his chin on top of her head.

And he was barefoot. Bella was wearing sneakers.

If Bella noticed the change she didn't show it. Her determined little feet didn't stop moving until they were practically on top of Embry's. She craned her head back and exclaimed in an angry voice washed raw with relief, "Where have you been!"

Embry, who had gone completely immobile, stared down at her in shock, as if he were seeing her first time in years. As if not quite believing that Bella Swan was standing a foot under his nose, scowling up at him with her pretty scrunched face.

"I left you a dozen messages! You never called me back, your mom said you never came home last night, and Jacob said you weren't at school. We spent _all morning_ looking for you. Your mom was going to call the police if you didn't show up by dark! Have you been here on the Rez the entire time? I thought maybe you were lying hurt somewhere…or worse. Couldn't you have at least called me?" At this point, her anger was petering out, and Jacob, who was uncertain about approaching and still standing several yards away, saw her shoulders shake and then droop.

She sagged into Embry, arms wrapped around his back. And with the natural tendency of a flower embracing the sun, his arms slid around her in return, hands gripping her hips where they'd created natural impression from holding her there so many times before.

But Jacob was watching Embry's expression, which hadn't looked so uncertain since that unsuspecting day in his garage when Embry first admitted to having a crush on Bella Swan. He witnessed the unsubtle exchange between him and Sam Uley. The latter was frowning and shaking his head as if to say, _No, don't hold her like that. You can't touch her like you have every right to. It doesn't matter what she wants._

It made Jacob want to punch the asshole in the face.

He pictured Bella sitting beside him in the ER, clutching his good arm while she wept and praised his chivalry. She would offer to give him a sponge bath later. He would agree—reluctantly and on certain terms.

_Only if I get to give you one afterwards._

Plus, Jacob thought Sam might even be prettier for it. At least it certainly couldn't make him any _worse_.

It was an unnatural thing to watch, Embry's hands tightening against the denim of Bella's jeans before convulsing away and falling stiltedly to his sides. Embry and Bella were always moving toward one another, never away.

And Bella sensed the wrongness of it. Arms still wrapped around him, she leaned back and seemed to really look at Embry for the first time since she'd spotted him from the car.

Jacob couldn't see her face, but he heard the confusion in, "Why aren't you wearing a shirt…or shoes?" And the wonder in, "You…look different."

The three other half-naked guys were stepping forward menacingly, crowding Bella like a pack of wolves intent on a kill. Of course, this only caused her to press instinctually closer to Embry—despite his apathetic posture and pained eyes. Because he would keep her safe.

"You need to leave."

At first Jacob would have sworn the cold words were Sam's. Because the guy _looked_ like the sort of bastard who'd say something like that to her. But Bella's head whipped up toward Embry.

"What?"

_What?_

"You need to leave." The pain was gone from Embry's eyes; they'd turned to mud—dark and off-putting. But the ache had only seeped down into his voice, so that when he spoke, he it sounded strained and forced. "I can't talk to you now."

Bella fell an awkward step backward. "What do you mean? What's going on?"

Jacob could see exactly what was running through Bella's mind in those terrible moments because he was thinking the exact same things. _Maybe something terrible had happened. Maybe someone had been badly hurt. There was an emergency. And Embry was just upset—_

"I can't do this with you, Bella. Not anymore."

There was a painful pause of silence. The sun was draining from the sky, streaks of bright colors whirling after it. Bella didn't see any of it. Neither did Jacob.

"This?" she echoed like a child learning a new word. The single syllable turned to two on her reluctant tongue.

Embry looked away. "Us."

It was a joke, Jacob decided even as his mouth dropped open. Bella and Embry had this all planned out. It was an _Embrella_ thing. Just a very bad joke. Soon Embry would laugh, Bella would snicker, and Jacob wouldn't talk to either of them for twenty minutes as retribution for nearly making his heart fail.

The approval in Sam's eyes was only slightly less disturbing than Bella's response, which was to blink stupidly at Embry for several long moments before all at once lunging forward and shoving at his chest. "You can't break up with me!" she cried angrily.

It was quickest she'd ever moved

When Embry stumbled back several steps, Jacob thought it had less to do with the force behind the push and more to do with the force behind _Bella_.

"You can't!" she yelled, both her voice and body trembling. "Not after…because of…"

"It's _over_, Bella," Embry accused as if _he_ was the one on the receiving end of the betrayal.

Jacob watched mildly horrified from several feet away. If seeing Embry and Bella love each other was painful, watching them tear apart was almost unbearable.

Bella turned to the side, allowing Jacob to catch sight of her face, which was pale and beginning to wet with tears. Forehead scrunched in confusion and eyes wide in a lost sort of way that probed viciously at Jacob's heart, she peered back at Embry. "I don't understand what's going on," she whispered. "I thought…"

Embry was shaking his head. "I can't. Not anymore."

"But just a few days ago, we—I don't _understand_. Embry, what's going on? What are you even doing with these guys?"

She was small, and helpless, and crying, and Jacob hadn't seen her this way since he'd cut the hair off all her Barbies when he was six.

Raising a hand to her face, she scrubbed at the tears with the edge of her sleeve. "Is this about…Monday…about _that_..?"

Embry threw his hands in the air. "Yes, Bella! Because of _that_. Now can you please just go!"

She stared at him.

Jacob had never imagined he'd see the day when Embry struck Bella. Embry's anger had always been a slow burn, even and non-violent in its consumption. And easy to extinguish. But Jacob watched as he struck out at her ruthlessly with hateful words, the action as disturbing as if he'd delivered a physical blow to her splotchy, upturned face.

"I don't want to see you anymore."

"Em…"

"Don't…you can't call me that."

"Talk to me. Plea—"

"Go!"

She flinched back.

Jacob inched forward to her side and quietly called to her, "Bella."

But she only had eyes for Embry's retreating form as he and the others turned toward the house. Jacob did his best to ignore the lingering look Sam sent his way. Instead he tentatively laid a hand on Bella's shoulder.

She startled toward him. Her lips trembled as she needlessly murmured his name. "Jake."

He sighed. Comforting Bella had always been Embry's job.

"Jake, Embry just…He just broke up with me."

But he'd watch Embry do it enough times to know what she needed.

His arms encircled her back, guiding her face to the crook of his neck. And he kissed her temple with an, "I know, Sweetheart."

* * *

**AN:** I hope that everyone who celebrates Christmas enjoys next Saturday! I probably won't be updating until that following Monday.

Thanks for the all the awesome feedback last chapter!


	3. Part Three

For I Am Captured Straight To You

**PART THREE**

Jacob had never liked the word 'surreptitious.' It sounded sticky and made him want waffles. And there hadn't been waffles—of the unfrozen variety—in the Blacks' house since Rebecca had left for college.

But with him sitting on the living room couch, pretending to watch SNL while covertly watching Bella talk to Charlie out of the corner of his eye, there really was no better word to describe his behavior. He was being…surreptitious.

…_waffles…_

Bella was curled in a kitchen chair wearing one of Jacob's t-shirts and a pair of sweat pants that had belonged to Rachel in high school and said "Can't Touch This" across the butt (an unfortunate senior slogan). In her left hand was the kitchen phone—her cell had died a couple hours ago—and the fingers of her right were twisted in the coils of the chord, which she tugged on absently throughout the conversation. Long silences were punctuated be her short, empty responses.

"Yeah, dad."

"Mmhm."

"Okay."

"I will."

"I'm sure I'll feel better in the morning."

"Goodnight."

She slumped to her feet and shuffled over to place the phone back on its wall-mounted cradle. She sagged there for a moment before coming into the living room. Jacob focused back on the TV and quickly tried to figure out why Tina Fey was giving a lap dance to a ten-year-old who looked like he'd lost a fight with his hairdryer.

"I think I'm gonna try to get some sleep," Bella mumbled while rubbing a hand across her eyes.

Jacob looked up as if he'd just noticed her. "Ok. You look pretty tired."

Bella stared listlessly back at him, not moving.

Jacob tried again. "Goodnight. Just let me know if you need anything."

"I'm not taking your bed, Jacob."

"Sure you are. If you'd wanted the couch, you should have called it earlier." He made a point of snuggling back against the cushions. "I've got dibbs."

"But I'm smaller. I'll fit better."

_Your powers of observation strike again._

When in doubt, make it sound like she would be doing you a favor. Bella loved taking one for the team. "But I might be up for a while longer watching TV. This Beaner kid is half as tall and twice as talented as everybody makes him out to be. And there's still half an hour left. I'd hate to miss it."

Bella stifled a yawn. The battle was won.

"If you're sure it's what you want."

She wandered off down the hall, and Jacob's carefully neutral lets-pretend-your-heart-didn't-just-get-obliterated-by-a-weed-whacker mask fell away. He stared at the television without really seeing it. Instead there was another film strip moving slowly across his mind filled with scenes of Embry glaring at Bella, Bella gaping back in shock, Embry walking away, Bella watching him go, Bella trembling in Jacob's arms, Bella leaking a few confused tears onto his shirt, Jacob taking her hand, Jacob driving her to his house, Bella fidgeting and looking lost on his couch, Jacob sitting beside her silently, helplessly.

It hadn't helped that he had been just as shocked as she was by Embry's behavior. In fact, he still didn't accept it as face value, even though it'd been 9 hours and Embry hadn't come begging for forgiveness and hadn't picked up the phone when Jacob clandestinely—_surreptitiously_—called while Bella was in the shower.

It just didn't make sense. Contemplating why Embry would break up with Bella was like contemplating why a man would blow out one of his own kneecaps with a sawed-off shotgun. You can't walk without your legs and Embry couldn't be happy without Bella. They belonged together.

Jacob knew that sounded sickeningly cliché and inspired by one of the many Disney movies his sisters had force-fed him while he was still an impressionable child. And that was all true, but that didn't mean he wasn't right. See, Jacob figured it was like this:

Bella was a seashore. The sandy part with a bunch of shells and rocks stuck in it. Not that Bella was stuck with rocks, but she was stuck with other hard, unwanted things—stubbornness, ignorance, and the occasional whining. No one thought any less of a beach because of some pebbles and broken shells. Some people even _liked_ those things. Jacob could imagine why.

Embry was an ocean. (Jacob didn't have a good reasoning for this beyond the fact that Bella was the seashore, and if Bella was the seashore, Embry was the sea.)

The seashore was nice. But the sand was fucking hot,stuck to your feet, and got into the spaces between your toes in a way that was obnoxious but also a necessary trial that accompanied the privilege of seeing scantily clad women prance around in public. And sometimes you stepped on loose rocks.

The sea was nice. But you can't swim forever, and no one had tackled the whole walking on water problem since that Jesus guy with the hair and the beard. Plus, there was bird and fish shit floating around.

But there was that place where the sand and the water met so frequently that it was damp and sandy all at once and all the time. And that was the best place to walk. Because it wasn't hot and you left those nifty footprints behind that people liked to take pictures of to blow up into motivational posters about God giving people piggyback rides. And that was Bella and Embry in a nutshell (not the piggyback rides, but the whole 'coming together to form perfection' bit). Other people even liked to sink their toes into them.

Including Jacob. _Especially _Jacob.

He fell asleep trying to decipher the exact meaning of Embry's words.

He woke up to the sound of Bella's sobs.

Normally, Jacob could have slept through a tropical hail storm tornado or, at the very least, Quil and Embry playing Modern Warfare 2 at full blast in Quil's basement while Jacob snoozed under the air hockey table. So he was fairly certain it wasn't the sound of Bella's muffled crying that woke him. It was something inside of him, something instinctual that said, "Jacob, get your fucking ass off the couch and go make sure Bella hasn't managed drown face-first in a pool of her own tears."

Groggily he rolled to his feet, stumbled precariously around the living room for a few wobbly steps, and then made his way down the hall toward his room. The door was open—probably because of their crap A/C—but Jacob pulled it shut behind him so they wouldn't wake Billy up. Bella didn't hear him enter.

She was sprawled on her side, pillow clutched to her chest like a life raft as she navigated the waves of sobs that shook her body from head to toe.

Too tired to hesitate, Jacob sat on the edge of mattress beside Bella's bent legs and laid a hand on her trembling side. He was also too tired for tact. "It's okay, Sweetheart. We'll find out why Embry's being such a douche, and you can make him do humiliating, emasculating things before agreeing to take him back on the condition that he gives you daily foot massages. You've really got the best end of this deal. You'll see."

"D-d-don't ca-c-call me-me tha-at," she choked out over a wheezing breath.

Right. That was Embry's name for her. Definitely too tired.

"Okay, honey," he sighed. Was this the part where he was supposed to ask about her feelings? Would it be appropriate to start calling Embry offensive names? But as angry or upset as she may have been in that moment, Jacob knew she loved Embry just as much as she had that morning when she'd spent hours relentlessly scouring the reservation for him. And Jacob refused to believe that Embry loved _her_ any less.

Deciding he couldn't hurt anything if he kept his mouth shut, Jacob simply sat and ran a slow hand up and down her back while listening to her sobs turn into sniffles, which turned into silence. It was dark in the room, but there was enough moonlight coming in through the window that it illuminated her glassy eyes and the dried tear tracks on her cheeks.

As far as Jacob could tell, Bella was staring at nothing in particular when she suddenly parted her lips and said slowly, "I know why he did it, Jake."

Jacob wasn't sure he liked the idea of her trying to find reason in this madness. If it could be explained, then that made it real and not the fluke that Jacob was imagining it to be.

"Maybe he's being blackmailed by Sam and his band of merry men," he offered only half jokingly. "And they were just out in the woods robbing all of the rich people who…creep around in the trees."

"No, Jacob," Bella responded as if he'd been completely serious. "I know why, and it's not Embry's fault." She finally met his eyes. "It's mine."

"Honey, you can't know that."

"I do. He even said it was."

"No, he said—"

"He said it was because of Monday."

Jacob assumed "Monday" was a codeword, one of the little special phrases only Embry and Bella could understand, not because it was a secret because they were Embry and Bella and they spoke their own language. Because Jacob couldn't think of anything life-altering that had happened on Monday. Bella and Embry had talked on the phone for nearly an hour Tuesday afternoon, and everything had been fine then. Jacob had even heard Bella's laughter on the other end more than once. Embry himself had been in a surprisingly good mood about the three pages of physics homework he'd had to do.

"I don't get it, Bells. What's Monday?"

She shifted in her spot, brushing a few errant strands of hair from her face and redirecting her suddenly shy gaze to the mattress. So quietly he almost didn't catch the words, Bella said, "Monday…was the first time we'd slept together."

Jacob's brow furrowed. "Nuh-uh. You two fall asleep together all the time."

"Not that, Jake." She shook her head. "It was the first time we…had sex."

Oh.

"And I know I must have been awful because now Embry doesn't even want to talk to me."

_Oh._

"I don't think…" Jacob didn't know what to think. Bella—blushing, homebody Bella—had had sex. With Embry. She was no longer a virgin. Somehow that made her less Bella and more Bella all at once in a way that Jacob couldn't quite wrap his head around. The only thing he knew with absolute certainty was that it made her less _his _Bella.

Honestly, Jacob had no idea why he was so surprised. Embry and Bella had been dating for nearly eight months. Bella was an adult and Embry was a hormone-riddled teenager, so of course they would have sex. The only reason it had taken this long was probably because they were the two most emotionally awkward people alive and Charlie owned several guns. And yet Jacob would have never expected…

Why the hell hadn't Embry told him? Wasn't that something a guy was supposed to brag about and rub gleefully in his virginal best friend's face? (Okay, so Embry was only a guy in the loosest sense of the word, but _still_.)

And Bella! She thought that she had been bad at it? As if that were even _possible_.

Jacob cleared his throat and redirected his attention to Bella, who was looking ashamed and mournful. Dear god. He did not want to be having a conversation about Embry's 'needs.' "I really don't think Embry would break up with you because of something like that. He loves you."

And Jacob tried to imagine a scenario in which it wouldn't feel like the best fucking thing in the world to…

"You couldn't have been bad," Jacob said firmly.

"How do you know?"

_Consult any one of the wet dreams I've had in the past six months._

"Because…look at you, Bella." He gestured vaguely at her, and the next thing he said just sorta…slipped out. "You're sexy as hell."

She rolled her eyes and huffed. "Yeah right, Jake."

"It's true," he said, feeling suddenly defensive that anyone (including her) could doubt that she was the single most desirable woman Jacob had ever encountered. "Your hair, for starters, is in a near constant state of sex-hair because you drive with the windows down, and Embry can't keep his hands out of it. You've got the biggest eyes I've ever seen and they just suck a guy in, you know? Your nose is small and pretty perfect. And your lips, well, the bottom one is fuller than the top, but it makes me want to touch it. You're small but in a feminine petite way that stands out because your legs are so…"

Watching him carefully, Bella stirred and started rising onto her knees.

Words stopped forming in Jacob's brain. It was too congested processing the sight of Bella's smooth, bare thighs, which were revealed inch-by-lazy-inch as the blanket fell away from her body. He swallowed.

Funny, he could have sworn she'd been wearing pants the last time he saw her.

_Dude, roll with it._

"…because your legs are so…"

_Her face is not in her lap. Try again._

"…are so long." He caught her eyes which were now just a few inches from his own.

_There you go, champ._

"You really think I'm pretty?" she murmured.

His mouth opened, closed, and then opened again. "I think I used the term 'sexy,' but, um, yeah."

Bella was watching him in a way he'd never seen her look at Embry, so he wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but his gut clenched with something like anticipation. Was this how she looked at Embry when they were in private? Lucky bastard.

"I think you're sort of beautiful."

Jacob blinked. He opened, closed, and re-opened his mouth. "You…what?"

Her hand touched his face. "You're sort of beautiful, you know?"

Jacob didn't have a response, which turned out to be a good thing, because then his mouth would have been awkwardly half open when Bella leaned in and kissed him.

It was a light, quiet meeting of lips that Jacob wouldn't have really counted as a kiss had the other person not been Bella Swan. But it was. So she might as well have been giving him a hand job for all of the rushing heat and want that surged through him at the rather chaste gesture.

The kiss lingered between them lazily until Jacob's paralyzing uncertainty dissipated enough for him to press back and start coaxing more from it. Then Bella slowly drew away.

Jacob's eyes were closed, so maybe it was because he couldn't see her face that he had the courage to say, "I've wanted to do that for a long time."

Or maybe it was just stupidity.

His eyes slid open. Bella had rocked back onto her heels and looked shocked. "Really?"

Jacob glanced away sheepishly. He hadn't _meant_ to say that. It sounded creepy and made him look like an asshole for wanting to kiss his best friend's girl. But what did he have to lose? "Yeah."

Bella seemed to soak in his admission carefully, making sure to catch every last bit of it. "You think of me…that way?"

"Sometimes."

_Only when I'm breathing._

"I had no idea, Jake."

"I know."—man, did he know—"But can you blame me for not wanting to broadcast it? I—"

She did that thing again where she kissed him. Only this time, there was less uncertainty and more tongue. And Jacob—being the poster child for sexually depraved teenage boys everywhere—reciprocated automatically.

One moment she was leaning awkwardly against his shoulder while he was twisting to accommodate her, and the next she was crawling into his lap, her calves hugging his thighs and her chest pressed against his. And of course their lips were…quite close.

But all of that touching quickly became secondary to the feel of Bella's heat against his dick, separated only by the cotton of her underwear and his thin pajama pants.

With Bella pressed against him like that, three things became quite clear. One: Jacob was not as tired he'd thought he was. Two: Bella was not wearing a bra beneath that shirt. And three: He wanted her naked and writhing underneath him—preferably screaming his name while praising his stamina and skillful command of the female body.

Bella was hardly the first girl he'd kissed, but she was the first one he'd ever kissed like _this_, with the frenzied groping, rough, disjointed kissing, and the eager grinding that were all clearly leading toward something. There was purpose in the way she yanked up on his shirt and how his hands slid up the backs of her thighs and beneath her underwear to touch her bare ass.

She was so soft and smooth under his against his skin, but he could hardly concentrate on what _he _was doing when _she_ was purposefully driving him crazy. Her tongue was tracing his clavicle like it was a page in a fucking "how to draw" book. Five of her fingers were curled around his shoulder while the rest of them seemed to be everywhere at once, scratching at his chest, pressed against his back, and flirting dangerously with the waistline of his pajama bottoms.

Her quick, heavy pants warmed his ear. "We could…"—she rolled her hips forward, sliding her crotch along his hard-on—"…and then you could tell me for sure. Whether I'm any good."

He swore. Probably gripped her thighs too tightly because she gasped and then moaned into his neck. How was it possible to sound legitimately bashful and seductive at the same time? God, the thought that with just a little bit of readjusting, he could take her right there in the next ten seconds were almost enough for him to combust on the spot.

Jacob shivered, pinched his eyes closed, and forced himself to silently count to three.

Five.

Ten.

"Jake?"

God damn, what was he doing? This was _Bella_ and…oh, God…he was dry humping her. Dry humping _Bella_.

_Yeah, the girl you've been panting over for a year. It's a real shocker that you've ended up here._

"Jacob?"

But, Christ, she was with Embry, his best friend since they were in diapers. They'd both pissed on Linda Carpenter's face. Might as well be Siamese twins.

_Nuh-uh. Finders keepers, losers weepers._

Bella was not a _thing_ to be won or lost. She was a person, his friend. He loved her. She was hurting, and his solution was to stick his hands down her pants.

_She's not wearing pants. Remember?_

"Shut up."

"What?" Bella blinked at him, face flushed and lips parted invitingly. For half a second Jacob considered kissing her again. It was what he wanted to do. It certainly seemed what _she_ wanted him to do—and a lot more. But the after would be awful. She would regret, and then he would regret, and they could never be close again, not in the same way they were now (well, not _now_). They would never be Jake and Bells again.

Jacob shook his head. "No, I wasn't talking to you. I was thinking. Out loud."

"Oh." She hovered uncertainly above his lap.

"Bella—"

"Jacob—"

"I think I'm going to go back to the couch now," he said before she could change his mind. He was already cursing his own fucking rationality.

"Why?" she pleaded, still gripping his shoulders.

"This is wrong, Bella. You only want this because you're upset, and I only want it because I'm a selfish asshole taking advantage of you."

Fuck, he really was a piece of shit, wasn't he? What kind of person did that to someone he cared about? Disgusted, he took his hands off of her, forced them not to slide back down her legs as they dropped lifelessly to the bed.

Suddenly, he was overcome with the need to get away from her. He couldn't stand looking at her a moment longer. All he could see was what he'd almost done, what some twisted part of him still wanted to do.

He stood so abruptly that Bella stumbled backward. She steadied herself with a hand on his arm, but Jacob shrugged her off immediately and headed toward the door without a backward glance.

"Jacob!" she cried.

He paused with his hand on the doorknob. "Go to sleep, Bells. Tomorrow we'll just pretend this never happened. Okay, honey?"

He didn't wait for her response.

* * *

Jacob deserved a fucking Emmy. And two or three Oscars. A Tony. Maybe even one of those surfboards that some b-list association gave out (the Narcoleptics Choice Awards, or something).

It had been two weeks since That Night, and Jacob had not only continued seeing Bella on a regular basis, but had managed to do so without staring at her legs every time she entered or left a room or engaging in any awkward silences.

At breakfast the morning after That Night, Bella had tried to bring up what had happened.

"Jake, I think we talk about last night. I want to apologize. It was wrong and you were right—about me, not about you. You aren't selfish," she'd said.

He had taken another bite of eggs and said, "Will you pass me the butter?"

And that had been the end of that conversation—permanently, if Jacob had his way, and it seemed that he did. After that initial hiccup, Bella hadn't tried talking about it again, and things had returned to almost normal.

Minus Embry.

He was still being a douche. Even though he'd returned to school that Monday, Embry didn't acknowledge Jacob or Quil's existence in class. He didn't acknowledge anyone's existence except for Mad Paul and Jared's. They walked around with matching haircuts and matching disregard, and the even sat together—discussing what color blouse went best with Sam's eyes, Jacob hypothesized. But he hadn't gotten close enough to properly eavesdrop.

The one time Jacob had tried approaching Embry, he'd brushed him off and shot him a stern look that Embry usually used to say, "Fuck off, I'm studying." It was defensive, not aggressive, and left Jacob feeling lost.

Bella was being a trooper. She was quieter and more reserved than normal but hadn't broken down since That Night, at least, not that Jacob could tell, and Bella wasn't one to keep that level of pain to herself. (She liked to think that she did a good job of suffering in silence, but just because she didn't talk about feeling shitty, didn't mean it didn't show. The lip gnawing and gloomy stares into the middle distance usually gave her away.)

She kept coming to La Push to hang out. Kept calling Embry's house every day only for his mom to answer and say he wasn't in or wouldn't come to the phone. Jacob assumed Bella was too wounded from their last face-to-face confrontation to risk going over there in person. She was waiting, like Jacob was waiting, for Embry to come to his senses, to get through whatever funk he was in and come begging to have her back. Not that Bella would ever openly admit that was what she was doing. But it was obvious. She hadn't given up on them—on Embrella—yet.

Because Jacob knew that if she had, he'd be dealing with something a lot worse than the occasional moments of longing silence.

When Bella's birthday came, and La Push was too silent and foreign, they left and made a spontaneous trip to the junkyard. What should have been a few gratuitous hours of window shopping for Jacob quickly turned into some sort of post-break-up/mid-life crisis for Bella, who decided that it was imperative she buy two scraps of metal and that Jacob turn them into functioning motorcycles for them to go gallivanting around on through La Push—and other areas Charlie wasn't likely to catch them in.

It was a reckless idea, Jacob knew, but when Bella smiled up him for the first time in days, there wasn't much to do be done about it. They lugged the scrap-metal-wishes-they-were-bikes back to Jacob's garage.

And the world kept spinning.

* * *

"This movie sucks balls."

"Yeah. _Space_balls."

_Snickers._

"Congratulations, you've finally attained a sixth grader's sense of humor. Soon you'll be able to outwit the furniture."

"Mel Brooks would appreciate my jokes."

"Hardly an impressive endorsement considering he wrote, directed, and starred in this piece of shit."

Leah and Seth's bickering came from the couch behind Jacob, who was lying on the floor atop a heap of cushions and blankets. Bella was lying to his left, and Quil was sitting in the recliner on her other side, eyes wide and following the action on the television intently. It was Saturday evening at the Clearwater's, and they'd decided to forgo the usual game night agenda of poker, kemps, Taboo, and Dirty Minds in favor of movies. (It was implicitly understood that without Embry they had an odd number of players, but no one wanted to poke around that Chinese finger trap, so they just agreed that they were all just _really_ tired.) Fortunately—or unfortunately if you were Leah—Seth had gotten first pick, so they weren't stuck watching some estrogen orgy like _Ten Things I Hate About You_ or _Ever After_, which Leah and Bella had been eyeing respectively.

It didn't take much mental exertion to watch _Spaceballs_. It was simple. It was funny. It was perverse. And the lead female had nice boobs. Jacob didn't think it was fair to demand any more than that from a movie.

Usually he wouldn't have had a problem relaxing and letting his mind slowly regress to the hormone-driven and half-witted state of teenage boyhood, where accidental references to genetalia were the pinnacle of male humor and never sounded contrived. UsuallyJacob found comfort in the mindlessness of being Quil for an hour and thirty minutes, knowing that when the credits began rolling, he'd gain back all of his IQ points and self-respect. Usually.

But not that night.

"Jacob." Bella nudged him with an elbow.

"Hm?"

"Are you okay?" she murmured.

"Why?"

"You've been staring at my feet for five minutes."

Had he? Jacob was in fact looking at her socked feet. He'd been noticing how when they were lying side-by-side, Bella's feet-stopped at the middle of his calves. (No wonder she had so much trouble staying up straight! He'd fall over too if his feet were as small as hers.) But he'd only been doing that for, like, a second.

"You sure about that?"

She nodded. "Yeah."

Damn. He wouldn't allow himself to look at her legs, so he was staring at her _feet_? What. The. Fuck.

Dear God. Somehow—in the last ten minutes—he'd subconsciously developed a foot fetish specifically for Bella Swan's size six feet. How did she not realize what she did to him? He couldn't keep his eyes off her fucking _feet_. Did it really take him putting his hands inside her underwear and grinding against her hot…

_Abort!_

But it didn't really count as a fetish if he didn't feel turned on. It was okay to just look, right? It wasn't like he was having dirty thoughts about them. Although, they probably were one of the few parts of her body he'd never touched before, and there was something kinda sexy about the height of the arch whenever she extended the ball of her foot. His mouth would probably fit there perfectly…

_You are a sick man, Jacob Black. Seek professional help. Immediately._

All this when they were covered by cute, little no-show socks. Imagine if they'd been naked feet.

"And you look kind of flushed," Bella continued cautiously, and he was not imagining the apprehension in her voice.

_I promise your feet are not making me hot and bothered._

"I do feel sorta warm."

Bella frowned, but Jacob had trouble focusing on the gesture. It was as if his eyes couldn't decide where on her face to look, and the edges were all blurry. He felt…funny.

Her fingers only grazed his forehead before jerking back. "Holy crow, Jake, you're burning up!"

Seth's face appeared above them. "You sick, man?"

Quil held up a finger. "Shut up. The Dink-Dink's are on."

"You look awful, man. Maybe you should lie down."

"He _is_ lying down," Leah muttered and tossed another piece of popcorn in her mouth. "Bill Pullman was so much hotter in _Independence Day_."

Bella's hand tugged on his. "How do you feel?"

"Um…fuzzy?"

Quil wrenched around in the chair. "Jesus Christ. You guys talked over the entire song."

Bella grabbed a spare pillow, fluffed it, and added it to the one already behind Jacob's head. "Well, stay still and I'll go get you a cold glass of water and a popsicle. You still have those Dreamsicles in the freezer, don't you, Leah?"

Oh, no. Bella was maximizing into mother mode, which was like beast mode but with an apron. Soon she'd be ladling him soup, taking his temperature, and pressing a washcloth to his face—all actions which would require her putting her hands on his body for extended periods of time. What if he started staring at her feet again? If it happened once, you could write it off as temporary insanity, but after a second time there'd probably be some requirement to seek out a Foot Fetish Anonymous group.

"Thanks, Bells, but I think I'm just going to head home. Catch up on some sleep."

She watched in concern as he got to his feet and stretched. "You sure you're well enough to walk back alone?"

He waved her off. "Sure sure. Just tired."

But Jacob was far from tired. In fact, as his blood started pumping through his body more rigorously, he felt a surge of energy and a renewed sense of awareness. Everything seemed sharper and warmer somehow. It was like an adrenaline rush. On steroids.

Bella nodded reluctantly and settled back down in the blankets—feet tucked under her legs, thankfully. "Okay. Just call one of us when you get home, all right?"

Hand pressed to his chest to confirm that it was indeed the sound of _his_ heart pounding wildly in his ears, Jacob nodded absently before leaving the house.

It took Jacob twice as long to make the usual 10 minute hike home from the Clearwaters'. He stumbled into the front door hearing nothing but the sounds of his gasping breaths and stumbling footsteps. He blinked against the brightness of the lights. Blindly he made his way into the kitchen, groped for the phone, and punched in number he'd memorized long ago.

Bella answered after the first ring. "Jacob?"

_Who else?_

"Yeah," he said instead, not understanding why he was so damn short of breath. "I'm home."

"Are you…okay?"

Jacob squeezed his eyes shut, tried focus and hear past the buzzing between his ears. "What…yeah, I'm fine. Gonna go to sleep."

"Did you take something? There's a white bottle with a green label in the bathroom cabinet. The permanent marker has worn off a bit, but it's—"

"I know where the bottle is," Jacob interrupted, rubbing at his eyes. "I'll make sure to take some."

"You might also want to—"

"Goodnight, Bella."

The trembling in Jacob's hand was so bad that it took him three tries to get the receiver in the cradle. He collapsed against the refrigerator, head braced against the laminate. The shaking spread from his hands up his arms, to his shoulders, down his back and through his legs. Something quivered inside his chest, something that wasn't his heart, and goddamn…it felt like his skin was crawling…

"Jacob?"

He knew Billy was sitting in the kitchen entrance but couldn't turn, couldn't lift his head.

The heat.

The shaking.

The bones of his body melting inside of him.

"Jacob, what's wrong?" Billy's voice was closer now, strained.

"I can't…I can't…"

_I can't even think._

"Jacob. Jacob, get outside. Now."

But his body wasn't his own. His vision swam in black and then red.

"Jacob!"

A growl burned his lungs and ripped through the air.

The world fell sideways.

* * *

**AN:** Next chapter should be coming this Friday or Saturday, so you wont be left in suspense for too long. ;) Everyone have a great (and safe) New Year!


	4. Part Four

For I Am Captured Straight to You

**PART FOUR**

So…it turned out that werewolves were real.

Highly misunderstood creatures it seemed, too. Like that whole changing during a full moon bit. Completely inaccurate. The change itself didn't happen anything like they showed in cartoons or in movies. A werewolf did _not _stand on two legs and have a furry, bulging eight pack. Werewolves were exactly what they sounded like: 'wolves' that 'were' huge. About the size of a horse actually. Also, no silver allergens. Although chances of a silver bullet doing one in were pretty good because, you know, it was a fucking _bullet_.

But there was no need to panic because werewolves didn't need to be killed. They weren't the out of control monsters

And how did Jacob come to know so much about these pseudo-mythological creatures? Because he was one.

Him. Jacob Black. A werewolf.

That night in the kitchen had been the first time he'd changed—or 'phased' as Sam called it. Nearly took Billy's face off in the process. Jacob had been terrified, naturally, having grown a tail, snout, and fur in the space of half a second. But Billy had been relatively calm given the circumstances. He'd herded Jacob—howling and whining—out the door (a tight fit) and into the woods, where Sam had been waiting for him…as a giant black wolf. (Jacob found out later that the reason Billy hadn't freaked out when his son turned into a crazed dog right before his eyes was because his dad had fucking known. He'd known what Jacob would eventually become and hadn't said a damn word in warning.)

It had taken Sam a good thirty minutes to talk Jacob down to the point where he could actually process what he was being told and realize that it wasn't some nightmare he'd eventually wake up from. And then Sam had explained everything.

That was probably the part about being a wolf that took the most getting used to. Each person in the pack could hear the thoughts of another member so long as they were both phased. And it couldn't be turned off. So if everyone was phased at once, Jacob had the thoughts of four other guys bouncing around his head non-stop. _All_ their thoughts.

Sam had talked to Jacob one-on-one for three hours that first night. He'd been patient but firm, fielding questions and laying down some rules. Sam was the alpha, and Jared, Paul, Embry and Jacob were his pack and had to follow his orders, which mostly centered around keeping the whole werewolf thing secret from everybody but the Quileute elders.

That was another thing. Sam wasn't nearly bad as Jacob had thought. Sure he could be a self-important ass, but a lot of the things he did were either beyond his control or were for the good of the pack and the Reservation. Like the alpha command he'd given that no pack member could tell someone about the existence of werewolves. Direct alpha commands were law and _physically_ couldn't be disobeyed.

It was why Embry had had to break up with Bella.

_Bella._

Jacob was pulled from own thoughts by the sound of her name echoing in Embry's familiar mental voice. The single name triggered an onslaught of mental images that didn't belong to Jacob. Embry, who was keeping pace with Jacob as they made a circuit, had been quiet and introspective the entire run, but now his mind was overcome with powerful, visual memories.

Bella chewing on the erase of her pencil.

Bella falling asleep against Embry's shoulder.

Bella trying to play Super Smash Bros. for the first time.

Bella reading her worn copy of Pride and Prejudice.

Bella gasping and trembling beneath Embry's body.

Bella looking betrayed in the rain.

_I haven't touched her or talked to her in over three weeks_, Embry thought bitterly.

Jacob hadn't seen her in nearly two. _I know, man._

_Maybe once things settle down and Sam thinks I have perfect control over my phase we can be together again, you know? I'd have to come up with a reason for why I broke up with her in the first place and why I won't be able to spend as much time with her as I did before. I'll have to beg a lot, too. She probably hates me._

_Bella doesn't hate anyone._

They leapt over a wide creek bed in unison without breaking stride or slowing down. For all the shit that came with being a werewolf, the actual being a wolf part was pretty sweet. The strength, speed, endurance and heightened senses had been overwhelming at first, but now that he'd become comfortable in his own skin and could exploit these changes…the power was incredible.

_But after what I said…_

_She was pretty upset_, Jacob granted. _But she wasn't mad at you. She was more…ashamed. Like it was her fault you didn't want her._

Her _fault? That's ridiculous! _I'm_ the heartless asshole who dumped her four days after we slept together for the first time._

_That's what I told her._

But there wasn't any use placing blame now. The fact was that Bella had been kicked out of both of their lives, and there was little either of them could do about it except miss her, which Embry did. Constantly. His thoughts almost invariably orbited around Bella whenever he was phased. Sometimes he'd wonder what she was doing, he thought about questions he wanted to ask her about school, he worried about her happiness, he worried she was moving on without him, he recalled specific memories and more general ones, and he imagined what they would be doing if he'd never started phasing in the first place.

And sometimes Embry's mind drifted to sex. With Bella. It was pretty incredible how he could recall specific details and sensations, almost as if he were reliving it. Of course, whatever Embry remembered, Jacob saw just as clearly.

He caught glimpses of Bella's small round breasts, pale as the rest of her body and topped with rosy nipples that hardened under Embry's fingers, Bella's naked thighs clamped around Embry's wrist while his hand worked against and insider of her, and the top of Bella's head, long hair splayed messily across Embry's chest as she dropped kisses down the length of his abdomen.

If Jacob had felt like a voyeur to Embry and Bella's relationship before, he was a full-fledged Peeping Tom now. Against his will, sure, but he still saw it and still felt like he got something out of it. He didn't try tuning it out the way he did when Sam, Jared, and Paul subconsciously allowed their minds to wander to their own…experiences. Jacob almost welcomed getting a taste of what real intimacy with Bella would be like, all the while doing his best not to put a name to the acidic emotion that turned his stomach at seeing Embry's hands on her, making her cry out in pleasure.

Jacob kept his own memories of Bella soft and moaning beneath _his _hands tightly bottled up inside where even he couldn't reach them without concentrating.

_I just worry about her spending so much time in town now. Those vampires are out there. And if they break the treaty…Jake, if one of them hurts her…_

Jacob paused in his concentrated effort to keep up a mental mantra of Breaking Benjamin lyrics (it was _not _singing) to respond to Embry's concern. _They won't. They're posing as high school kids, remember? Bella doesn't have a reason to go anywhere near the school. And it's not like she's gonna run into one shopping for produce at the grocery store. Besides, Bella's too scrawny to seem appetizing._

_But her size was one of the things that originally attracted me to her._

_Because it made her cute and huggable, not because it made you want to suck her dry._

Oh, yeah. Vampires were real, too. And they _were_ the monsters fiction made them out to be. With a few modifications to make them sparkle. It was the pack's job to make sure any vamps that wandered into the area were crushed into Pop Rocks before being responsibly disposed of via fire. Well, any vamps except the Cullens, a coven of vampires who'd made a treaty with Jacob's grandfather, the alpha of the previous wolf pack. The Cullens apparently didn't eat people because killing made them feel bad and immoral (Paul called them wankpires). So they tried to avoid committing murder because no one liked being a sad panda.

And until one of them harmed a human or crossed onto La Push land, the pack had to let them go on living side-by-side defenseless people. Like Bella.

_Is she still coming by your house?_ Embry asked hopefully. The only time he got to see Bella was when she came to bang on the Blacks' door and demand that Billy tell her why Jacob was being such a douche—his term, not hers. Embry would follow her from the trees the moment she entered La Push to the moment she left. She'd stopped by three days in a row after Jacob had rather rudely dismissed her in a brief phone conversation that marked the climax of a week-long avoidance. She'd accused him of lying about being sick (and, of course, she'd been right) and he'd retaliated by claiming she'd been clingy and overbearing ever since the breakup.

Jacob had spent the rest of the night feeling like the biggest dick on four legs.

_She hasn't been by in a couple days. Maybe she gave up, _Jacob offered, even though he didn't believe if for a second.

Neither did Embry. _No way. Bella's the most tenacious person I know. She's probably just changing tactics._

Jacob guffawed. _Did you just say the word 'tenacious?' Who _thinks_ that way?_

_Well, excuse me for passing my eighth grade vocabulary tests. Not all of us thought it was cool to try to get exactly a 78% on every single one of them like it was a freakin' game of Yahtzee._

_I bet you kept all the shiny smiley face stickers, didn't you?_

Embry snapped at his front legs.

An hour later they were standing in the woods outside Jacob's house, pulling on the cutoff shorts every pack member kept tied to his ankle while they were phased. In the past two weeks Jacob had managed to destroy one pair of shoes, two t-shirts, and three pairs of pants from accidental phasing. Sam had assured him that control would come with time and focus, but if Jacob was pretty sure that if he ruined another pair of shorts, Billy would cut off his legs just so that he wouldn't have to buy him more.

"Man, I'm starving." Embry rubbed at his stomach.

Jacob's growled its agreement. "We've got some of Harry's fish fry in the fridge. I'll heat some up, and you can sit on the floor and eat whatever falls off my plate."

Embry's fist connected with Jacob's arm, but Jacob didn't flinch like he used to. He hardly even registered the hit. Higher werewolf-y threshold of pain and all that.

The two stepped out from the trees into Jacob's side yard and started heading for the house, when the sound of a familiar rumbling engine sounded from a short distance down the road. Embry and Jacob stopped walking, shared a look that clearly said 'oh shit, it's Bella,' and then proceeded to stand stock still.

"We should probably…"

"Probably."

They stared at the bend in the road Bella was seconds away from rounding.

"I mean, it's for the best."

"Yeah."

Neither moved. Both kept their eyes on the road.

Well, the hell if Jacob was going to leave before Embry. He hadn't seen her in two damn weeks!

"She'll wanna talk to us. Ask us questions," Jacob mumbled, rubbing the back of his head.

"I told you. Fucking _tenacious_."

The cab appeared followed by the rust-stained bed. As she turned toward them, Jacob could make out Bella's form through the windshield, which was splattered with bugs due to the lack of rain the past couple of days. She didn't notice Jacob and Embry frozen in the grass just off to the side of the house—they weren't exactly waving her down or anything—and pulled right up into driveway.

She cut the engine and, after pushing open the heavy, groaning door, did her little half-hop/half-step thing to the ground. (Jacob only stared at her jean-clad legs for three seconds…well, six seconds all together.) When she closed the truck door, her eyes naturally swung past where the boys stood unmoving in the grass. It would have been impossible to miss two large, half-naked men staring dumbly at her as if she were the second coming of Christ.

Bella stopped mid-stride and looked in their direction as if a sudden movement had drawn her attention. Then she blinked twice, pursed her lips, and proceeded to walk into the house.

Still holding their breaths, Embry and Jacob watched her go in confusion.

"Are we…invisible?"

"The fuck should I know? You've been turning into a giant dog twice as long as I have."

"I think I would remember Sam saying something about selective invisibility."

"Yeah, I bet it would have been right up there with the nut chaffage that comes with going commando 24 hours a day."

"Oh, I don't know. I find it kind of liberating."

"Shhh!" Jacob hushed him and tuned into the sound of Bella and Billy's voices carrying from inside.

"Hey there, Bella."

"Hi, Billy."

"Charlie said he was sending you over to borrow the power drill. His old hunk of junk finally gave out on him, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Well, it's right there on the coffee table."

The living room floorboards creaked under the movement Bella's weight.

Billy let out a low whistle. "Looks like you're going to have quite a scar there, missy."

"Scar!" Embry exclaimed. "What happened?" He turned frantically to Jacob. "Did you know she'd gotten hurt?"

Jacob waved him into silence.

"Just got the stitches taken out before coming over," Bella said while walking back towards the front door. "Dr. Cullen suggested I get some sort of lotion to help reduce the scarring. Might be a good idea. Take care, Billy."

"Goodbye, Bella."

The front door opened, and Bella walked straight off the porch toward the truck, not glancing once in the boys' direction. She placed the drill in the truck bed, and then all Jacob could see was Embry's back.

"Embry," Jacob hissed after him, "don't!"

But he just picked up his pace and started jogging over to where Bella was pulling open the driver-side door with determined nonchalance. She even ignored Embry when he called her name. Not that that dissuaded him any.

Cursing, Jacob moved to follow after Embry, already able to tell that this was going to blow up in his best friend's face. There was nothing he could say to her, nothing he could promise her in the next five minutes that could fix the last month.

Embry got to the truck just after Bella had climbed inside, and he managed to wedge himself between the car frame and the door so that she couldn't close it.

"What do you want, Embry?" she asked testily, not looking at him.

"I heard that you'd been hurt and I…"

As he approached the pair, Jacob noticed Embry's shoulders tensing. His back snapped straight and rigid.

"And you what?" Bella demanded. Now that he had a clear view of her face, Jacob noticed the dark smears under her eyes and the angry puckering of her brow. This was not Bella's traditional 'cute' angry. This was exhausted angry. Hurt angry. Betrayed angry.

And they had made her feel this way.

_Asshole fucking dicks._

"Hey!" Bella yelped. "What are you—"

"How did this happen?"

Jacob peered over Embry's shoulder. He had grabbed Bella's hand and flipped it over, exposing the soft underside of her forearm. The pale skin was marred with a recently scabbed wound, still angry and red from the stitches. The narrow laceration began just below her wrist and ran a three inch slant toward her elbow.

"Tell me how this happened, Bella!" Embry shouted, causing Bella to jump.

"Holy crow, it was just an accident!"

"No one did this to you?" he demanded, still clutching her arm.

At first Jacob didn't understand what Embry was so worked up about. It probably looked a lot worse than it actually was, and it didn't seem like she was in any real physical pain (except that he was probably cutting off the circulation to her fingers holding her wrist like that). But then Jacob caught the scent of something sickly sweet that burned the inside of his nose, a stench that rose directly off of Bella's skin and clothes.

A memory—one that belonged to Sam—leapt into his consciousness.

_A suffocating sweet scent leading him through the woods. Racing forward, forward, forward. The scents growing stronger. Four legs pumping faster. Not much farther now._

_There!_

_Between two trees. A vampire, all pale hair and pale skin—monster—clutching a woman in his arms. Blood drenches the air. Messy fucker. The woman, limp, lifeless, falling to the ground as jaws close around stone. Shatter._

_Vampire fighting back. Grasping arms and scathing snarls. Should have run when you had the chance, messy fucker. More shattering pieces. Ground littered with them._

_Pain. Not dead yet. Soon. Soon though._

_All movement ceasing._

_Big and little bits crunching under paws. Crossing to the woman. Eyes open. Eyes empty. Drained face. Whole but dead._

_Vampire. Monster. Messy Fucker._

_Burn the pieces._

"…just an accident. You know how I am." Bella jerked her hand free and wrapped her arm around her stomach self-consciously. When her eyes slid from Embry to Jacob they widened in concern. "Jake, are you all right?"

His jaw was clenched too tightly to reply. Her voice sounded distant, an echo he couldn't quite understand. There was a shaking in his chest.

One of _them_ had touched her, had put his hands on her. A vampire had listened to the beat of her heart, wondered what she would taste like, imagined sinking his teeth inside of her and drinking her dry until she was nothing but cold tissue. Maybe the fucker had even tried. He'd bit her. She'd gotten away somehow…

"Jacob, get it together."

He shoved Embry's hands away. He was already too hot and there wasn't enough space…

The woman in the woods with a blood-soaked collar was no longer a stranger. She was Bella. Lying empty and blank on the forest floor with blood dripping from the bite on her wrist, a meal interrupted. Her eyes were brown and glazed because he hadn't been there to save her.

_No! She's right in front of you, calling your name._

Gone. She was gone. In the woods. Dead on the ground. Messy fucker.

"Jacob, get back!"

Something solid connected with his chest, and Jacob snarled as he stumbled backward. A door slammed.

"Stay in the car!"

"But, Embry—"

She gasped and, in a removed sort of way, Jacob knew why. The rippling of his skin was uncomfortable—still strange and foreign—as the wolf forced his way to the surface. And there was nothing Jacob could do to stop him. The heat started in his gut as a knot of fear, sorrow, and rage—because Bella was bloody on the ground at the hands of some fucking bloodsucker—then boiled over until it shook every part of him with the need to find release. A half-second of bones shifting and reshaping and Jacob was on all fours, claws piercing the ground and a frustrated growl ripping free.

He towered over Embry, who was backed against the truck, not quite blocking Bella's wide-eyed expression from where she sat motionlessly inside. Embry was trembling—not with the fear that a snarling wolf was breathing down his neck, but with the knowledge that one was raging inside himself. It was instinct to phase when threatened, but it was also instinct for Embry to put Bella above himself.

Embry stared Jacob down in warning. "Back. The. Fuck. Off."

Instinctually, Jacob snarled at the thinly veiled warning. But Embry didn't flinch, and through his steady gaze, Jacob found an anchor, something for the man inside of him to grasp onto. These were eyes he'd looked into hundreds of times before, but never once as a wolf.

Slowly, bit-by-burning-bit, the blind rage ebbed and receded, and Jacob started to do more than just _see_ his surroundings; he became aware of them. Embry beside the truck. Billy at the house door. Bella behind the wheel.

_Bella._

Beautiful. Terrified. Alive.

Jacob began moving towards her but stopped when Embry solemnly stepped forward to cut him off. Embry shook his head. "No."

No. Of course not. She was staring at him like he was about to go Jurassic Park and flip over the tuck so that he could eat her out of the window.

_Fuck me._

Sam's voice appeared in his head. _Jacob, the woods. Now._

Jacob didn't experience the usual knee-jerk resentment that usually followed Sam's orders. He was just grateful. Grateful to have something to do that wasn't watching Bella looking at him like _that_.

Jacob backed away, and then turned and ran.

* * *

A broken bottle. She had slipped and fallen on a broken beer bottle. Vampires didn't even _drink_ beer.

_Where the fuck had all of that come from?_

"What the hell, Jacob!"

Embry appeared suddenly in the dense cropping of trees that Jacob been sulking in for a good twenty minutes under Sam's supervision. Embry threw a pair of shorts at his chest before shoving him much like he had right before Jacob had phased in the open—mere feet away from Bella. Only this time, Jacob didn't bristle and flush with rage; he limply staggered backward, eyes on the ground and wishing he'd get hit again.

"She was _right there_! A second sooner and you would have…"

_Taken her face off._

Yeah. He was aware.

"I mean,"—Embry scowled and turned away, flustered and _livid_—"damn it, you can't lose it like that! If she…if she…" Embry quaked with _if_'s.

Uncrossing his arms, Sam sighed from his position as referee. "The control will come with time, but until then—"

Jacob's head jerked up. "What? I stay leashed in the backyard? Only you get to take me out on walks?"

Sam frowned, but Jacob's goading had never worked before and wasn't going to ruffle him now. "Until then you need to be careful. Avoid situations that will set you off. "

"Great. Maybe Bella will be thoughtful enough to carry a sign that next time she smells like leeches: _Warning: Stench May Cause Fursplosion._" Jacob gritted his teeth. "God, I still can't believe one of them actually put his hands on her."

Embry also looked less than pleased. "Yeah," he muttered, "well, now she knows better."

Jacob looked at him in surprise. "You told her?"

"Kind of had to," Embry sighed. "She saw you get all big and hairy, remember? It's not like I could tell her you were just practicing your Silverbolt for Halloween."

Bella knew. If Bella knew, then…

"Where is she? I want to talk to her."

Embry hesitated.

"For fuck's sake! I'm _fine_," Jacob bellowed. "It just took me by surprise the first time, all right?"

"He's okay now," Sam agreed as if Jacob needed his damn stamp of approval.

Embry nodded as if he had needed it, too.

Bella was, rather predictably, at Jacob's house, where Billy was keeping an eye on her to make sure she didn't phone the New York Times to tell them that six-and-a-half-foot Quileute boys were turning into giant rabid dogs or—far more likely—call the chief of police. Standing on his front porch, Jacob took a deep breath, glad to have Embry as his back. He would absorb a good deal of Bella's energy and focus—having Bella's full attention for those two weeks of Embry's absence had been both amazing and overwhelming. It felt damn good to have all three of them present and accounted for.

Jacob exhaled loudly and pushed open the door. Bella apparently had been waiting on the other side and lunged forward to grab Jacob arms.

"Are you okay? Embry said that you were fine, but you turned into a _wolf_, Jake! Right in front of me! I thought something really terrible had happened to you and you weren't coming back even though Embry said you would. He said you _both_ turn into wolves now although he wasn't sure why. Changing doesn't hurt you, does it? I really wish you guys had told me sooner. I would have been there for you. I know you can't tell just anybody about it, but you know I wouldn't tell anybody if that was what you wanted."

Trapped in her hold, Jacob awkwardly patted her elbows. "It's okay, Bella."

Embry could start absorbing _any_ time.

As if he could still hear Jacob's thoughts, Embry squeezed inside the door and took Bella by the shoulders. "Sweetheart, why don't we sit down?"

She nodded, still looking keyed-up as Embry led her towards the couch. They sat together against one of the arms. Bella grasped one of Embry's hands in her own.

Billy wheeled out from the kitchen toward the front door. "I'm heading over to see Old Quil. Harry's already at his place."

Jacob easily read the look on his father's face: The elders weren't going to like this one bit.

Jacob nodded absently from where he was standing behind the coffee table. As soon as Billy had left, he looked imploringly to Bella. "Bells, I am so sorry about what happened out there. I didn't mean to lose control like that and almost hurt you. This phasing thing is still new, and it's unpredictable at the start."

"But you didn't hurt me." Bella was pleading him with her eyes not to sound so guilty.

No way. Jacob did _not_ get an out that easily. And if she didn't take what happened seriously, how seriously was she going to take the rest of it? Like the fact that her doctor drank blood in order to survive.

"That's not the point. I could have—"

"I'm glad you did," she said definitively with a little nod of her head.

"_Glad_?" Jacob repeated incredulously. "Have you seen Emily Young? What do you think happened to her face? Sam lost control of his phase when she was standing too close, about as close as you had been standing to me without Embry to get in the way."

"But I know now. We don't have to stay away from each other anymore because you don't have to keep it a secret. So, yes, Jake, I'm glad that you lost control."

There was nothing Jacob could say against that. He was relieved that she knew, too. There wasn't a reason for Sam to order her from their lives any longer. In fact, he'd probably want them to stay close to her just to make sure she didn't spill the beans (not that Bella would). And she hadn't been hurt. Thanks to Embry.

Bella stood up then and wrapped Jacob in a hug. "I'm so glad that you're okay. That _we_'re okay. I thought you hated me."

Jacob returned the embrace and caught Embry's half smile over the top of Bella's head. "I couldn't hate you any more than I could hate doing body shots with Megan Fox."

Bella snorted.

"But," Jacob said as he pulled away, "as much as I love you, you smell god awful."

Bella's forehead crinkled adorably. "You mean because I smell like Dr. Cullen?"

"Because you smell like _vampire_." Jacob wondered how well Embry had explained what the Cullens were and if she appreciated how dangerous they could be.

"I could take a quick shower," Bella offered while subconsciously tugging at her shirt. "Unless you were going to use it, Jake?"

"No. Knock yourself out."

The small grateful smile she rewarded him with released a flutter of butterflies in his belly. (God damn it. What kind of self-respecting teenage boy knew that a group of butterflies was called a 'flutter?' Embry and his eighth grade obsession with insect collecting could go to hell.) She disappeared down the hall, and Embry followed after her.

Exhausted for too many reasons to name, Jacob crumpled into the familiar worn sofa. He had to slide forward now in order to rest his head on the back, and he closed his eyes so the only thing to distract him from his thoughts were the sounds of Bella and Embry in his bathroom.

Embry started the water in the tub—because it took forever to get hot.

Bella's jacket dropped to the floor. She unzipped and stepped out of her jeans.

By the time Embry had gotten a satisfactory temperature, she was sniffling away tears, standing in her underwear, t-shirt, and socks. Jacob could hear her running her fingers through her hair over and over again.

"Bella…"

_Sweetheart._

"I'm sorry," she murmured. It's just…I've missed you so much, Em. And after a while I started to actually believe you didn't love me anymore." Her voice became muffled by Embry's chest. "Or maybe I was just awful at sex."

Embry's hands slid up and down Bella's back, fabric sliding over skin. "Don't. Don't ever think that. Because it was the best night of my life second to that time you agreed to go on our first date. I've missed you like crazy, and I hated having to stay away. And I'm so sorry." He kissed her before continuing. "All I've been doing is missing you and thinking of you. I don't ever want to break up again, okay?"

"Okay." They kissed again as hands finished removing clothes and two pairs of feet stepped under the spray of the shower.

Jacob pressed his palms to his closed eyes and hated himself.

* * *

_This sucks balls._

_Really, Paul? Because _we _are the ones who have to put up with _you_._

…_can't believe she let me…_

_It was my fucking patrol first, Black. I can't believe Sam is making me babysit Apeshit and Shakesqueer._

…_just forgave me like that. She looked so beautiful…_

_You're not babysitting us. Embry and I volunteered to help patrol tonight just to run off some steam._

… _that I can really smell her, she smells even better than…_

_Correction. Sam _made_ you volunteer so that he didn't have to babysit you any longer. He wanted everyone out of the house so he and Emily could fuck in peace. Should have some good play-by-play by tomorrow._

_Gross, Paul._

_What? It's worth the effort it takes to break Sam down and get him thinking about sex. He might have a stick up his ass, but he's also got some sick bedroom tricks up his sleeve._

_Again with the gross._

…_gonna make it up to her. I love her so much that just thinking about her…_

_Jesus fucking Christ. Is Embry sure he didn't imprint on that scrawny-ass white girl? He sounds more like a vagina than Sam. _

_Don't call her that. Just because I appreciate Bella in more than a physical sense, doesn't make me a vagina. And I'm pretty sure the fact that you get off on Sam and Emily having sex in his memories makes you more pathetic than me._

_Just because the lame fucking you do with Bella makes everyone but you fall asleep and makes Jared question his sexuality doesn't mean you need to—_

_You're a dick._

_Better a dick than a vagina._

_Even if that dick has syphilis?_

_Melissa Phillips, that slut…Jacob, why the fuck are you singing 'Through the Fire and Flames?'_

Jacob mentally rolled his eyes. He hated patrolling with Paul. Almost as much as he hated patrolling with Embry. Paul always thought about sex. Embry always thought about Bella. Either topic resulted in Jacob thinking about his hands being inside Bella's underwear as she sucked on his neck.

This was a bad thought to have. Not because it made him feel guilty—which it did…a little bit—but because Jacob's thoughts weren't his own. Not now, at least, with two other sets of ears catching every stray thought that passed through his head. When the conversation had turned toward sex _with_ Bella (Really? _Really_? Was this some sort of punishment for that jibe about God giving people piggyback rides?), Jacob had reverted to survival mode: a mental orchestration of Dragonforce. Even a guy as intelligent, talented, and capable of multi-tasking as Jacob had to concentrate to hit all those chords.

_I wasn't singing. I was humming. I don't sing._

_You know, Jacob, I've always assumed there wasn't much going on upstairs for you. But since you've started phasing, I don't have to assume anymore._

Jacob turned up the volume and jumped an octave. _Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Da Daaaaaaaaah!_

_Aw, give him a break, Paul. He had a rough day._

How impressive that Embry could say that with _happy_ sincerity. _He better be fucking happy. He was the one who was in the shower with—shit. Da Da Da Da Da Daaaaaah Da Da Da Da…_

_So he flipped his shit and phased in front of your girlfriend. It's not like he fucked her on the hood of the car. I don't get what he's being so emo about._

_DA DA DA DA DA DA DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!_

Embry hummed to himself. _Actually the song's really not emo. If you listen to the lyrics, it's kinda uplifting._

_Guess you could fuck a girl to it. Hard._

Jacob's focus had reached its breaking point. _You know what, guys? It's been great and disturbing, but I think I'm gonna head home now._

_Good_, Paul bitched.

Embry sighed. _You sure, man?_

_Positive._

_Okay, well just—_

Jacob phased before he could find out 'just' what Embry wanted him to do. He phased, pulled on his shorts and ran to the sound of silence. He was nearly a mile from home, and by the time he pushed open the front door and barreled towards his room, his feet were caked with dirt he didn't notice and his lungs were fighting for air they didn't need.

He dropped to his knees beside his bed and reached underneath for the size 13 shoebox. He made quick work of the lid and grabbed the first clean scrap of paper he touched. His hands were trembling as if they belonged to a heroin addict who'd gone twelve hours too long without a hit, so Jacob struggled to dig for the pen at the very bottom.

But then he had it in his hand and the box lid on his lap, and he pressed pen to paper. He wrote until his fingers cramped. He wrote until Billy knocked on the door and asked if he was alright. He wrote until the words blurred on the unlined page. He wrote until his mind was empty.

Finally.

The slips of paper joined the others in the box. The pen fell uselessly to the ground. Jacob flexed his aching hands and shook his head as he got to his feet and started to towards the bathroom. The door slammed closed behind him.

_I might as well spend my nights counting the fucking stars._

_

* * *

_

**AN:** Ideally, the next update will be a week from now. *cough* If, um, that doesn't happen, don't send out a search party or anything. I'll just be at home banging my head against the wall.


	5. Part Five

For I Am Captured Straight to You

**PART FIVE**

"The target is in sight."

"No it isn't. The target is Bella. _That_ is her window."

"Well…she's _inside_ the window, isn't she?"

"No, Quil. She's _beyond_ the window. If she were _inside_ the window, I could walk around with her paperclipped to my pocket."

"I don't think Embry would be cool with that."

"Then it's a good thing I'm right and you're wrong."

"Whatever. I'm gonna find some rocks to throw."

Jacob watched Quil crouch down to dig through the grass and then reached into his pocket to retrieve the shiny silver phone he'd snagged off Embry before leaving the Rez. He pressed and held the number '2.' Three seconds later he heard ringing coming from Bella's room.

Sheets rustling.

A thump.

A curse.

More rustling.

"Hello?" Bella finally croaked.

Jacob grinned into the receiver. "Hello, sunshine."

"Jacob?"

"That's Agent Tall Dark and Smexy to you."

"Smexy?"

" it."

"Wuh?"

"It means I'm smart and sexy, Bella. Smexy. The best of both worlds. Just roll with it."

"Why are you calling me, Jake?" she groaned. See, when Bella didn't get enough beauty sleep, not only did she look like a zombie, but she acted like one, too. Jacob always tried to keep his flesh a safe distance from her mouth. Just in case. "And why do you have Em's phone?"

"Because how else am I supposed to call you from outside your house?"

There was silence on Bella's end.

_Probably fantasizing about chomping on your fingers._

"Bells?"

"Jake," she sighed finally, his name dragging as if it weighed a ton. "When we watched that movie and I mentioned how sweet it was that John Cusack stood outside with a boom box above his head, I didn't mean I thought it would be sweet if _you_ tried—"

Jacob shook his head. "Oh, no, you've got it all wrong. No boom box. But I did bring you something much simpler and just as noisy."

"What? Jake, you know I don't—"

"I promise you'll be doing me a favor by taking it off my hands. Come over to the window." Jacob snapped the phone closed so she would have to at least tell him to fuck off in person.

Quil stood up abruptly, hands cupped together. "Look! Rocks."

"Look!" Jacob grabbed Quil's shoulders and twisted him around toward the house. "Bella."

She appeared in the window, pushing it open after a bit of fumbling. Her hair was tangled around her shoulders, which were distractingly bare beneath her camisole. "You brought me Quil?" she asked, not sounding the least bit impressed. Not that Jacob could blame her.

"He'll sing if you want him to. Does a mean cover of Afternoon Delight."

"What are you guys doing here?" she muttered while rubbing at her eyes.

"You were seriously asleep already?" Quil raised an eyebrow. "It's not even twelve yet. What kind of college student are you? I had rocks to throw."

Bella yawned. "I don't understand. What's happening?"

"We're adultnapping you."

This was usually the point where said adult being "napped" would inquire, "Why?" But Bella was a pretty rational person and knew that it was sometimes better not to ask questions with potentially alarming answers. With Quil, it was always better.

"How?"

"Jump." Jacob shrugged. "I'll catch you."

Wearily eyeing the two story drop, Bella politely declined.

Jacob did his best to look wounded. "When have these arms ever steered you wrong?"

"Jake," Bella sighed and leaned her elbows on the sill, "I don' care how strong you are. If I ended up toppling out this window headfirst—which seems likely given my history with gravity, there won't be much you can do to soften the impact. And you know how fond I am of not being paralyzed from the neck down."

Quil turned to Jacob. "We did not allot time for this level of resistance. T minus 20 minutes."

Bella rolled her eyes. "Can't you just climb up here and carry me down? That's what Embry does."

The two boys shared a bemused look, before Quil sighed condescendingly. "Two problems."

"First off," Jacob began, "what happens if your dad catches us in there? In your room? In the middle of the night? I mean, what's our excuse gonna be? 'Don't worry, Chief Swan, I swear we were just watching her sleep.'" He snorted. "Cuz that doesn't sound bad."

"And secondly," Quil jumped in, "you're Embry's girlfriend, so he's allowed to be alone with you in your room at questionable times of the night. But once you start having _three_ different guys in your bedroom…well, let's just say people start to talk. We're just looking out for your reputation here, Bella."

Jacob nodded solemnly in agreement. "Honestly, where's your sense of propriety?"

Bella eyed them skeptically, and Jacob _knew_ she was using her Laser Stare of Truth. (Charlie had taught her well.) "You're just worried that Embry would hurt you if he found out, aren't you?"

Silence.

"Pretty much."

"Yeah, that's a fair statement."

Bella shook her head in amusement, loose pieces of hair falling in front of her face. "How about I just use the door?"

Quil snorted. "Sure, 'sneak out' through the front door. Who does that? I suppose you're also gonna wanna ask Charlie's permission before you go."

Bella—wisely—ignored him. "Does it matter what I wear?"

It was cool outside, but given the nature of the, uh, activity that was planned, she wouldn't have to worry about heat.

"Nope," Quil said with a cheeky grin. "You'll just be taking your clothes off anyway—ow!" Scowling, he rubbed the back of his head as Jacob fixed him with a warning look. "What? She will!"

"Never mind," Bella mumbled and ducked back inside.

Another successful application of the "don't ask Quil, don't let Quil tell" policy.

She did end up using the front door and—although she tried to be sneaky about it—left a note for Charlie on the kitchen table. (For some reason, Bella had gotten it in her head that if she hummed loud enough, they couldn't hear her doing other things like going to the bathroom or dragging a pen across a piece of paper. But her ignorance was sorta endearing so the boys just let her go on thinking she was ingenious like that.)

"You guys are dressed," Bella remarked in surprise as she locked the door behind her.

Quil grinned cheekily. "That can be fixed."

"No, it's a good look for you," Bella commented.

Jacob snickered.

"I guess that means you didn't run here." She peered curiously at the driveway, which was empty save for Charlie's cruiser. "How _did _you get here?"

"In style." Quil tossed an arm around Bella's small shoulders and began leading her toward the sidewalk, which they followed around the corner of the block.

Jacob watched Bella's face expectantly as her eyes fell upon the two motorcycles parked at the curb. The bikes bore little resemblance to the bare, rusted heaps of metal they had scavenged a month previously on her birthday. They'd been a decent distraction during his Sam-proclaimed Bella-exile. Any time he hadn't been patrolling, he'd been holed up in his garage, pretending Bella was there with him, asking questions she wouldn't remember the answers to.

Jacob had put the final touches on them just that morning. It hadn't taken much convincing to get Quil to agree to help drive them down to Charlie's

And Jacob wasn't disappointed by Bella's reaction. She gasped and moved toward the red Honda first—it was closest. She ran admiring finger over the handle bar. "I can't believe it," she exclaimed with a grin. "I thought you would have stopped working on them after the whole werewolf thing."

"You think a little bit of facial hair was gonna keep me from our babies?"

"Our babies?" Bella giggled a tad bit hysterically.

The sound had Jacob smiling like an idiot. He still knew how to get under her skin, and she still lived under his.

"Yeah, you and me made a couple of good lookin' kids, huh?"

Big brown eyes and a slow smile caught him from beneath long lashes, so Jacob was already half-breathless when Bella came crashing into him, arms thrown around his middle.

"Thank you, Jake," she said into his chest. "They're amazing. Best birthday present ever."

"So, Bella," Quil said from where he was straddling the Harley, patting the seat behind him in invitation, "ya wanna?"

And then he did a creepy eyebrow wiggle thing that should have been restricted to sexual predators and mimes. Bella choked on her laughter.

"Actually, you,"—he pointed to Quil—"are going to be driving that one." He pointed to the Honda. "Bella and I will be riding Black Beauty."

Bella pulled away with a frown. "I don't get to drive?"

Jacob took her hand and led her over to the black Sprint and grabbed the riding jacket slung across the back. "Put this on. We'll work your way up to the driving part. Right now we're on a tight schedule. Here, don't forget the helmet."

She only stared at it in his outstretched hands. "You and Quil aren't wearing helmets."

"Because we've got thick skulls. Now, on it goes."

"Jake—"

"Look, Bells, if we drive and we crash and you split your head open on the pavement, it's all good for you cuz you'll be dead. But me? I'll probably survive only to be slowly maimed and dismembered by Embry and Charlie. So, please, do this little thing for me. Okay?"

There was some minor huffing and puffing, but Bella eventually conceded. She shrugged into the coat that was at least two sizes too big and wrestled with the zipper while Jacob slid the bulky helmet on over her head. When she was finished, Jacob stepped back to give her an appraisal.

"You look…"

_Like a bobble head Martian—if Martians were black and lumpy._

"…good. Now let's go."

* * *

The whole point of kidnapping Bella from her bed in the middle of the night was to make her more comfortable with the Pack. It was tradition that whenever someone new went wolf, everyone got together to listen to the Elders tell the old legends, the history of how Quileutes came to turn into wolves, and the story of the third wife.

Jacob had purposefully chosen a seat across the fire from Bella. He'd heard the stories before during his and Embry's "initiation" shortly after his own first phase. He'd known going into tonight that the majority of his time and attention would be put into Bella-gazing. And he'd been right. The moment she had stepped out of Leah's house wearing some traditional, hand-woven Quileute dress, he'd been a lost cause. It wasn't the first time Jacob saw someone dressed in one of those things, but she was the first person who wasn't all wrinkly. It fit her nicely, hugged her…waist. And the bright colors stood out against her pale skin in a way that was more than distracting in the firelight.

Leah had demanded that she wear it, even though no one else had to dress up for the thing. Her exact words had been, "Look, this bonfire is for Quileutes only because they're going to be divulging ancient Quileute secrets like the ultra-covert Quileute legshake and hand jive and shit. She's gotta at least make an effort to blend in. It'll put the elders in a less pissy mood." But Jacob suspected she had an ulterior motive—a very large-ass, wishes-it-were-primary ulterior motive—involving a desire to incessantly drive Jacob crazy by making his life a living, 5'3," brunette Hell.

Said living Hell was currently sitting hip-to-hip with Leah across the bonfire's flames. Their heads were bent together conspiratorially, as Leah blathered on about some TV show. Bella was nodding along, snickering and adding her own occasional commentary. Leah looked relaxed for the first time since she'd phased nearly two weeks back. (It had been a busy weekend, what with Quil, Leah, and Seth all phasing within 12 hours of one another. For Sam, it had been like giving birth to triplets…with pointy, three-inch canines. Although, Leah probably wouldn't appreciate that metaphor considering her and Sam definitely used to sleep together, and that would be all incestuous and nasty.)

Bella was good with people like Leah—with people in general, really—because she was first and foremost a listener. A non-judgmental one, at that. She was too passive to get caught up in people's faults but not superior enough to ignore their problems. That made her a nurturer by default, even if Bella would whole heartedly deny it.

Christ. She was hot, sensitive, and humble. Was it really that big of a surprise that he fantasized about walking over, taking her hand, and leading her far out into the woods where he would—

"Hey." Embry nudged his shoulder as he settled down beside Jacob on the log, hands stuffed into the front pocket of his hoodie.

Jacob swallowed, eyes jumping guiltily from Bella to the fire. His heart jumped sporadically inside his chest, and Jacob had to remind himself that Embry couldn't hear his thoughts. Not now.

_Yeah, relax. He has no idea you're mentally stabbing him in the back every opportunity you get._

Embry grinned, oblivious as always. "Bella said she liked the bike ride. Except the part where she had to wear a helmet."

"She's on a personal mission to give you grey hairs by the time you're 25."

Embry sighed as if being the object of Bella's scheming were some great burden, but he was smiling fondly as he watched her across the fire. Jacob allowed himself to look at her again, knowing Embry wasn't paying him any attention. Emily had brought out the stuff to make smores, and Bella was skewering a couple marshmallows for the flames. Bella might not have been that big on sweets, but she was a complete sucker for toasted marshmallows. Something about enjoying the feel of the surprisingly warm and soft inside on her tongue (yes, Quil had nearly choked on a Dorito upon hearing that explanation.)

"Is there something going on between you two?"

Jacob's head whipped sideways to find Embry was looking at him carefully. Contrasting shadows and light colored the sharp angles of his face, and for the first time Jacob saw Embry as the man phasing had forced them all to become. He wondered how much of that change showed on the inside.

"Going on between me and who?"

Embry gestured with his chin. Jacob knew without having to look who he meant, could feel the silent _Bella_ in his bones. If there was one word that didn't need to be spoken in order to pass between Embry and Jacob, it was Bella's name.

And Embry was looking at Jacob more shrewdly and more openly than he ever had before. Usually when Embry looked as someone, he did it to see them not to see _through_ them. He was a good guy who didn't judge with a glance and who was too fucking polite to stare long enough to recognize what someone was beyond their exterior. Some people called it naiveté; Jacob called it 'having better things to do than get dragged down in other people's negative shit.'

But now…Embry was looking at him for answers, and Jacob's stomach dropped to his feet at the obvious implication.

He knew. Embry knew. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. But he'd been _so_ careful. Too careful. He couldn't possibly…

"It's just…"—Embry lowered his voice—"she's been acting different ever since we got back together."

"Oh?" Jacob choked out.

"Yeah. She keeps wanting to spend more and more time off the Rez. At first I thought it was the whole wolf thing. Maybe she didn't feel safe around the pack, after…"

…_that one time you almost ripped her face off._

"But then she has no problem hanging out with Leah or Seth or Quil. I've just…noticed that the three of us haven't really hung out together in a while. Did you two have a fight while I was, you know, gone?"

Jacob sucked in a painful breath.

A fight. Embry thought they had gotten into an argument. Sneaking a quick glance back at Bella before once again meeting Embry's earnest eyes, Jacob cleared his throat. "Did…Bella say something about a fight?"

"No, but why else would she be avoiding you?"

Bella was avoiding him? His knee jerk reaction was to say, 'no.' Bella avoiding him was exactly the type of thing that would have showed up on his Bella Swan radar—which happened to be his most active and accurate radar. But then he thought back over the past two weeks and couldn't recall a single time Bella had strolled through his front door as if she owned the house, the dirt it was built on, and the sun shining down on it.

He'd seen her, sure, but that was only when he ran into her at the Clearwaters' house, hung out with everyone at First Beach, or kidnapped her from her bedroom in the dark of night. Jacob had chalked it up to Bella and Embry still smarting from the breakup and wanting to make up for lost time (Jacob's personal euphemism for them having lots and lots of makeup sex—not his best survival mechanism, but it kept Jacob from bashing his head against large, pointy rocks or bashing _Embry's _head against large, pointy rocks, so it did its job.) But what if he was wrong? What if it had nothing to do with Embry and everything to do with Jacob?

"You think she's avoiding me?"

"Did you know that we're flying to Jacksonville next week to visit Renee and Phil for Thanksgiving?"

Jacob felt like he'd swallowed a rock. "You and Bella?"

Embry nodded.

"No, I didn't know that."

"Renee is always trying to get Bella to visit, and this one time when they'd all agreed she would stay in Forks, Bella decides last minute to fly out and see her mom? That's so unlike her, man, and she's been acting weird about it." He cast a rueful look to the ground, where he was digging his toe into the dirt. "Honestly, I've been sorta hoping that you two had a fight. That's an easy fix. Now I'm worried it might be something worse."

_Like maybe the two of you made it to third base behind my back._

"You know what?" Jacob clapped Embry on the back. "I think you're blowing this out of proportion. She's probably just adjusting to this whole 'supernatural creatures really do exist' business. Maybe she's just not sure how to act around us. And she seemed okay when I picked her up tonight—well, minus the scary hair and wild eyes bit. But that's pretty standard for her any time after 10:30. Not that I see her a lot after ten thirty because she's typically sleeping, and I don't watch her sleep or do anything more than watch her sleep. But sometimes I do see her at night, after 10:30. Of course neither of us are near a bed when these rare, rare occurrences…occur, and they are _rare_. Like, holographic Charizard rare. You remember how rare that card was, right?"

_You can shut up now._

Embry laughed, and the tension left his shoulders. "Maybe you're right. I'm probably making a big deal out of nothing." He shook his head as if to clear it of all his speculation. "I just don't want to screw things up again. If there's anything our time apart taught me, it's that I always want her in my life. Like, forever. I can't imagine ever watching her from the outside looking in again."

When most eighteen-year-olds said something like that, people scoffed. When Embry said it, Jacob nodded and died a little.

"Yeah…that had to be awful."

Embry squeezed Jacob's shoulder as he stood. "Thanks for the talk down. I'd be lost without you, man."

An hour and five smores later, Jacob was in his garage, tinkering with the Rabbit, and _not_ sulking. He had high-tailed his ass off of First Beach the moment an opportunity had presented itself. (Okay, so he bribed Quil to _create_ an opportunity, but it wasn't like the guy needed much convincing to start a marshmallow fight. It had Bella, Kim, and Emily scrambling like crazy because when a werewolf whipped something at you that was that small and _that_ fast, it stung like a bitch.)

Working in the garage usually served as a useful distraction for Jacob. It kept both his hands and mind busy. Except that the part he was currently working on wasn't actually broken, and Jacob was only mindlessly removing and reinstalling it, telling himself that there had to be a way for it to fit better. He could have done it in his sleep, and he could definitely do it while mentally replaying his and Embry's conversation.

He had just gotten to the part, _'Why else would she be avoiding you?'_ when he heard footsteps approaching from outside. Two sets. One quiet and agile, the other heavy and dragging by comparison. Was it strange that Jacob recognized the sound of Bella's footsteps from 30 yards away?

_No, but the fact that you can smell her from 15 yards away definitely gives you some stalker cred._

Five seconds later Embry and Bella were standing in the garage entrance, holding hands and having one of their silent body language conversations where they leaned, and brushed and, and touched. Bella was tired. Embry was reluctant to see her go.

"We thought we'd find you hiding in here," Bella murmured sleepily.

"Much better thought out than taking shelter inside Jared's car," Embry remarked. "Turns out Jared has a key."

Bella rubbed at her arm—she was wearing street clothes again. "I think I'm going to have welts in the morning."

Jacob snorted and couldn't help but grin at the thought of them cowering in the backseat as Jared bombarded them with compressed marshmallows. Kim had probably kept him loaded with ammo. "Well, you are an easy bruiser, Bells."

"It was like being pelted with rocks," she insisted.

Jacob might have been more concerned if Embry hadn't been rolling his eyes over the top of her head. If _he_ wasn't freaking out, it couldn't have been that bad.

Jacob ran his hands along his jeans in a half-hearted effort to clean them. "I'm sure you'll be all black and blue by morning."

"It already is morning." She rubbed at her eyes and then turned to hide a yawn in Embry's arm.

It was just after three, and Jacob was fairly certain that Bella was going to go comatose at any moment. Embry, of course was thinking along the same line.

"Jake, would it be cool if I used your car to take Bella home? I couldn't find my mom's keys and she's gotta be at work early tomorrow, so I didn't want to wake her to ask where they are."

As if he'd spent the last forty minutes practicing this very response—and _not _moping like a little girl—Jacob opened his mouth and said, "Actually, I need to replace a part before it's good to drive, but it shouldn't take too long. I can just drive Bella home when I'm done so you don't have to wait up."

"I don't mind waiting for you to finish."

Bella swung around in front of Embry so that she was facing him. "But you have to be up early tomorrow, too, remember? You told Mr. Fields you would be at his place by nine to help move that load of lumber."

Embry groaned and it was music to Jacob's ears. "You're right. I forgot all about that. That's six hours from now."

Bella hooked a hand inside the collar of Embry's sweater and pulled him down the ten feet it took for their faces to be level. She kissed him briefly. "Go get some sleep."

But Embry kept her from retreating by cupping her face, as he pressed his lips slowly and softly to hers.

Jacob looked away. It was almost impossible for him to recall a time when seeing them like this was something he had thrived off of.

The drawn out silence was broken when they pulled apart, and Jacob resumed pretending he had something important to fix.

"Then I guess I'm out of here," Embry said while hugging her one last time. "Thanks, Jake, and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure sure." Jacob kept his eyes focused on the part in his hands, as he listened to Embry's footsteps disappearing down the road toward his house. The part of his brain that wasn't trying to determine if there were any pack members within earshot was tuned into Bella's proximity—as per usual. The only light in the garage came from the weak moonlight outside and the work lamp Jacob had hanging from the Rabbit's open hood. Her human eyes had to have difficulty seeing in the darkness, so she didn't risk moving around much.

Slowly she inched to his side. Her ponytail had fallen over her shoulder and brushed his harm. He sucked in a sharp breath.

"What are you working on? Is it the, um…oh shoot. What did you call it? The something filter…"

"Have you been avoiding me?"

_Fuck. You're about to sound like a butthurt little girl, aren't you?_

"Huh?"

He could feel her confused stare but didn't manage to look her in the eye. "It feels like…you've been avoiding me. I mean, you've stopped coming by the house on your own. I only ever see you in La Push if you're with Embry. You haven't invited me and Billy over to yours and Charlie's in forever. You don't call me anymore to complain about your classes. This is the first time you've been in the garage since I phased. And you're missing the annual anti-Thanksgiving party to go see your mom. With Embry. It's frustrating that I can't even tell if you're acting strange because you're never around. Did I do something?"

_Someone write this shit down and send it to _Seventeen_. I can see the title now: "Five Signs Your Best Friend is Rattling the Closet Door."_

He held his breath, waiting and dreading her response. Because they both knew he _had_ done something. He wondered if his attempts to suppress the existence of That Night by not talking about it had backfired and Bella hated him. After all, he _had_ put his hands in her underwear without asking. Maybe not discussing it made him a dick.

Bella didn't reply right away. She was wrestling with how to answer. She always did that when she was afraid someone's feelings would get hurt by what she had so say. Screw that Gandhi guy. She and Embry had to be the two most non-confrontational people to ever live.

Which meant that he wouldn't like whatever she had to say.

"Jake…"

The garage suddenly felt very, very small. Jacob put the part he'd been mindlessly toying with back where it belonged and none-too-gently allowed the hood to fall shut with a dull _thud_…followed by a loud _clang_ and shattering sound as the work lamp fell to the concrete floor, the case and bulb breaking on impact.

Bella yelped and jumped backward from the bits of scattering glass.

Jacob cursed. "Shit! Sorry. I forgot that was on there. Don't move."

Bella froze in place, blinking against the sudden blackness that Jacob was nearly immune to. "The soles of my shoes aren't very thick," she said.

"I know." She was wearing a pair of those would-be moccasins that were really only suitable for squashing stray spiders in the bathroom and not actually walking in. "Here. Let me just…"

Jacob grabbed her hips, lifted her into the air, and sat her down on the hood of the car, releasing her only when he was sure her crappy shoes were braced against the front bumper. Her body heat lingered in his hands as they fell to his sides. The short laugh that escaped her stayed with him, too.

Bella shook her head in amusement. "You guys make me feel like a little kid when you do that."

"What?"

"Move me around like I weigh twenty pounds."

"That's because you do weigh twenty pounds…in werewolf pounds, which is like dog years but backwards and measuring weight instead of time. And of course the conversion is less scientific and more of a guesstimate."

"So it's nothing like dog years."

"No one likes a smartass."

"Then why do I bother being friends with you?"

"Pity mostly." And even though she couldn't see Jacob's grin, he could see _hers_.

"I do have a weakness for social outcasts," she murmured thoughtfully.

He rocked forward onto his toes, shifting—inevitably—closer. "Aside from deserving a whole bunch of sympathy friendship, I strongly suspect you stick around because you know how good I am with my hands."

Bella's mouth fell open mutely as her eyes widened in surprise.

_How does a foot as big as yours fit inside a mouth?_

Jacob cleared his throat and quickly tried to backpedal. "You benefit from me doing like mechanic stuff with my hands. Like fixing your truck…"

But it was too late. Bella crossed her arms over her middle and lowered her face toward the ground. She was closing herself off from him.

Nuh-uh. Not on his fucking watch.

Jacob reached out and brushed his fingers over her knee. "Is that why you've been avoiding me? Because of that night you and Embry broke up? Because Bella that was…I was…"

…_doing what I had been secretly wanting to do for months._

Bella didn't respond. But she also didn't shrink away from his touch when he braced his hands on her thighs. Instead she unfolded her arms and wrapped her small hands around his wrists, squeezing gently.

"Jacob," she whispered.

He let his head fall down toward hers. "Yeah?"

"That night, you said,"—her tongue darted out to wet her lips in a nervous gesture that went straight to Jacob's groin—"you said you think of me…in a certain way. Sometimes."

He tried to think back to That Night without really _thinking_ about it. He failed. Lots and lots of images and noises rushed him at once, and the few words that had been spoken were sorta muddled in the middle of it all. Still, there wasn't anything about That Night he didn't remember. "Yeah."

She finally looked him in the eye. "What did you mean? Exactly."

Jacob wasn't a complete moron. He recognized this for what it was: the moment of truth. Bella Swan was asking him how he felt about her. Jacob wasn't a complete moron. He knew she really didn't want the truth. If she got it, he knew she would want to give it back, and he wouldn't be able to take it.

And who the fuck was he kidding? He couldn't even take things as they were right now. What he was doing every day—secretly pining after his best friend's girl and singing songs while running around as a giant dog—wasn't working. He was miserable, and he was pretty sure he was making everyone else miserable. And he missed Bella. And he just wanted to be happy again.

If he couldn't change the fucking situation, then it was time to get his shit together and adapt. He was seventeen and shouldn't be planning to live out the rest of his life in state of constant misery and 'woe is fucking me.' He wasn't a weepy vagina.

_Could have fooled me._

Suck it up and lie.

Jacob took a deep breath. His dull nails dug a little deeper into the material of her jeans as if his body were resisting what he was about to do. "I meant that I'm attracted to you sometimes."

"Physically you mean?"

"Yeah. I wasn't kidding when I said you've got great sex hair."

Bella blushed, but it was the small, embarrassed grin she gave that he'd been after. He could already feel something filling his chest that was lighter than the dread he'd been carrying around for weeks. Relief, maybe.

"But look, Bells, I promise you don't have to worry about me humping your leg every time I see you. We were both pretty upset that night, and we forgot who we were for three minutes. Temporary insanity, okay?"

The tight grip she had on his wrists slackened. The tension left her legs beneath his palms. It made talking easier.

"I think Leah's hot—"

_Ew._

"—but I manage to keep my hands to myself around her. I do normally possess some semblance of self-control. So you don't have to avoid me, okay? Cuz, unlike Leah, I actually like your personality, and I miss hanging out with you."

Bella was staring at him square in the eye, her eyebrows knitted together in an expression Jacob couldn't make sense of. A few silent seconds passed before she cleared her throat and looked away. "No. Yeah. I was just avoiding you because I felt guilty. It was wrong what we did. And I hate keeping things from Embry."

Jacob exhaled loudly, and this time he _knew_ it was relief. "I think it's better that he doesn't know. It would only hurt him. You know how sensitive he is."

"Sure, sure," she agreed quickly. She was starting to squirm beneath him.

Jacob took that as his cue to lift her and set her down well beyond the vicinity of the broken lamp. She stepped back from him almost immediately and turned to the bikes parked in the garage entrance.

"Why don't you just drive me back on the bike? I promise not to fall asleep and slide off the back."

"If you want."

"I do." She reached for the over-sized jacket and slid it on without looking at him. Next, she took the helmet in her hands.

"Hey, Bells?"

She turned toward him, her face open and hopeful. "Yes?"

"Do you ever worry that Embry might imprint on some random chick, or a squirrel, or something?"

She hesitated and then smiled faintly. "I know Embry. I know that he loves me and will always be there for me. We'll always want to see each other be happy."

Jacob knew the feeling.

* * *

**AN:** A couple of peeps who review have their PMs disabled, so I can't reply to the awesome things they wrote, but I still want to say "thank you." I appreciate you taking the time to comment on what you read. :)

It would take a miracle for me to have part six out by next Friday. I fly back to school on Sunday, and things will be hectic/busy for a little bit. But I'll be writing as best as I can as fast as I can, so hopefully it shouldn't take TOO too long for me to get the chapter out. Oh, and there will be seven parts in all.


	6. Part Six

For I Am Captured Straight to You

**PART SIX**

_Shit happens._

That was Jacob's new motto. It was a good one, too. Turns out that Forrest dude with the twangy accent and box of chocolates really knew his shit. Because shit _did_ happen. A lot. Especially to Jacob. But he was cool with it now because he'd realized…it happens.

"Stop it."

Jacob dunked a breadstick in the garlic sauce before shoving half of into his mouth at once. Leah was watching him from across the table, picking at the uneaten crusts of her pizza slices. She looked entirely too unimpressed.

He continued shamelessly chomping away because he knew it would piss her off. "Swo wuh?"

Her lip curled in disgust, and Jacob cheered on the inside. "Stop smiling. It's making me nauseous."

He finished the rest of the breadstick and knocked back half a can of Mountain Dew before responding. "That's not because of my smile. That's because you've been PMSing for three days, which is probably why you're so bloated, too."

Her crust hit him square between the eyes, and Jacob just laughed.

Leah made a frustrated noise. "I said to cut it the fuck out. You have no reason to be smiling. Bella's in Jacksonville with Embry, and they're probably doing it on the sand every day. Shouldn't you be jacking off in your room or coloring a sad, sad picture?"

Jacob gave a brilliant smile. "Shit happens."

"You mean, _Embry and Bella_ happens." She grinned balefully.

_Bitch._

Jacob knew that the Pack was only meant to phase into wolves, but he thought that if she tried hard enough, Leah could turn into a hyena. Then she could scavenge corpses while cackling to her black heart's content.

"I'm telling Bella you think she and Embry are shit," he said and hit her with another smile.

Then Leah's eyes got all small and knowing. "Oh, I don't think that they're shit. I think they're fucking perfect together, a real life Barbie and Ken. They'll get married in a couple years, pop out a few hellions by the time Bella's thirty, live in a big yacht on a small lake in the middle of a library, sponsor water-deprived children in Africa and abused pets in America, start a home-living magazine, retire at the age of sixty, and have dozens of grandbabies with freakishly high IQs. Fucking perfect. I'm not the one who thinks its shit. You do."

_That, my friends, is what we like to call "going for the jugular."_

God. Leah and her all-knowing shit was getting on his last nerve.

_Ah, well. Shit happens._

Well played, subconscious. Well played.

"Dunno what you mean. It's great they plan on getting old and wrinkly together. And it's all the better if they're rich. I can mooch."

Leah snorted. "Is that what you write in your diary every night?"

The empty Mountain Dew nearly slipped from his hand, but Jacob quickly recovered and crushed it instead. He tossed it casually into the trash. "I don't have a diary."

"You're right. I suppose you call it your 'man journal' or something else that makes you feel less like a girl."

How the hell did she know about that? Not that he would ever refer to the super secret box of paper beneath his bed as a diary or, worse, a man journal, but come on! That shit was _super secret_. No one else in the Pack had a clue about it, and he patrolled twice as often with Embry and Sam as he did with Leah. Had to be some freaky female eavesdropping sixth sense that women got in return for having to squeeze a baby out from...down there.

Leah had known about Jacob's feelings for Bella before Jacob really had. Of course, Jacob had never confirmed her 'suspicions,' and anyone else who caught wind of her teasing/taunting/torturing dismissed it as Leah saying crap in order to meet her daily bitch quota. Jacob pretended that was all it was, too, and no one paid her much mind.

It would probably be best to use the same tactic in this scenario as well.

"A man journal, huh? Is that what you write your angsty erotic poetry in? What was that most recent one? Something like…_Hate. Hate is what I feel when I see your strong, manly arms flexing in the darkness of what we used to be, cast in the sharp relief of what we could have been. We are naked together, writhing in the lightning of possibility _—"

"You know, Jacob,"—Leah regarded him coolly from across the table—"I could always stop thinking about my own personal garbage and concentrate on yours the next time I'm on patrol with say…Paul."

Ugh. Everyone knew that Paul spread secrets as fast as he spread syphilis—which was _fast_.

"Really, Leah, I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Bullshit, Black." She got up and started collecting trash from the table, and Jacob thought it was the most domestic he'd ever seen her. "But there are some things even I don't want to be responsible for knowing."

Jacob scoffed. "Really? Because you act like one nosy bitch."

The new can of Mountain Dew he had lifted to his lips was suddenly snatched away.

"Hey! I wasn't done with—"

"Listen," Leah cut him off ruthlessly, "Bella is my friend, and I tolerate you and Embry. But if things keep going the way they are now, Bella will be my hurt friend, and I'll be burying you and Embry in the ditch outside Old Quil's tractor shed. You need to get your shit together, Jacob, because you're making a real spectacular mess of things."

Had Leah not taken his Mountain Dew, Jacob would have been choking on it.

"Bella will be hurt?" he asked in disbelief. "_Bella_? The same Bella who's consecrating the beaches of Florida with Embry? _She_'s the one in this equation who gets hurt? Yeah, it must be real damn awful being able to have sex with the person you love. Me? I'm the lucky one who gets to write in his fucking _man journal_ about how he _almost_ had sex the person he loves but couldn't because she still had tears and snot crusted onto her face—you know, because she was in love with his best friend. Yeah, really living the American dream over here."

He shoved angrily away from the table before standing and collecting his trash with a vengeance, feeling very much like an angry god, smiting all the little people who didn't give him cool enough sacrifices.

Fucking napkins.

Fucking cans.

Fucking plate.

Fucking Leah.

_Don't forget to curse the pizza box. It feels slighted._

Leah made a little condescending, frustrated noise in the back of her throat. "You're so blind." And then she walked out of the kitchen into the living room and sat her ass on Jacob's couch.

He was still scowling and silently cursing female nosiness, vagueness, loudmouth-ness, and pretty much just females in general, when Quil and Seth came running into the house at full speed and nearly dived right on top of the kitchen table.

"You better have saved me some pepperoni, Leah! And by 'some' you know I mean 'a lot.' Yuck. Mushrooms. What did the pizza do to deserve fungus?"

"I can smell the garlic sauce, but I cannot see the garlic sauce. Where is the garlic sauce? Does Quil Atera need to choke a bitch?"

Yeah. Why couldn't girls be more like guys?

* * *

They say it's best to rip a Band-Aid off in one quick motion because it hurts less than pulling it off gradually. Jacob wasn't entirely certain who 'they' were. He only knew that 'they' were idiots. That or it was one of those sayings which was only supposed to be taken literally (okay, that would still make them idiots because what kind of crappy saying can't be applied metaphorically?). So, yeah, shit happened. And when it happened all at once, it fucking blew.

It was Sunday. Jacob didn't have patrol and he hadn't seen Leah since two days before when she'd been campaigning for Biggest Bitch of La Push, so he was feeling pretty good. Relaxed, almost. He'd spent the morning sleeping and had just sat down to a really late lunch—two batches of pizza rolls, a bag of Cheetos, and a whole lot of off-brand Gatorade—when the kitchen phone rang. He considered not answering it just in case it was Sam asking him to pick up a patrol, or pick up the slack in school, or pick up the phone when he calls. (So Sam was like a mom who didn't cook or do your laundry. Worst mom ever.) But then Jacob remembered the note Billy left about being at a council meeting, and Jacob thought maybe his dad is calling for a ride home.

Jacob wiped his hands on his pants and answered on the last ring. "Yep?"

"Jacob."

Definitely not his dad. Hearing his dad's voice didn't make it harder to breath or turn his stomach into warm, funny knots.

"Hey, Bella. How's Jacksonville?"

"Oh. Um, it was good. But, Jacob, I—"

"Was?" Jacob asked in surprise. "You're back already?"

She sounded strange, sorta nervous and distracted.

"Yeah, we just got back to my house about 15 minutes ago. Listen, I have to tell you something."

Uh oh. Jacob sunk further against the kitchen wall, biting the inside of his cheek as he tried to calculate the exact level of foreboding in her voice.

_It's over 9,000!_

Not good. "Okay…"

There was only silence on her end, and the knots in his stomach weren't so pleasant anymore.

"Bells," he prompted.

She cleared her throat and hesitated once more before managing, "Embry and I talked. Well, I talked really. He didn't have much to say, which was upsetting but understandable given the circumstances, I guess."

"_Bella_."

"."

"You…_what_?"

Her anxiety dialed up to full-out panic, and she was practically yelling at him, ranting a mile a minute in his ear. "I told him, Jake! About what happened that night after we broke up. I told him how I stayed at your place because I was so upset, and you let me use your bed so you could watch Justin Bieber on Saturday Night Live in the living room. And I told him how I woke you up with all my crying…"

Suddenly, Jacob felt like he wasn't actually standing there, holding the phone and listening to Bella carry on. It was like he was watching the scene from the outside, or from above, or whatever. Like an out of body experience. Bella's voice was distant and fuzzy, and he could see the color draining from his face.

"…that if felt good to talk to you. I got so caught up in everything, and I kissed you. I didn't give him all the little details, but I told how I got really carried away before you were able to put a stop to things. I made sure he knew it was an accident, and that I was really sorry for not telling him about it all sooner."

Oh, shit.

_Oh, shit._

"I can't believe you told him!" Jacob yelled.

"I swear I told him it wasn't you're fault at all, that I practically forced myself on you—"

"Bella, you weigh, like, sixty pounds! You can't _force_ yourself on me!"

This…this was…this was bad. Very bad.

_Bad? Someone's in the running for the Biggest Understatement of the Century. I bet Leah would give you a glowing endorsement._

"I—fuck, Bella! Why would you do that?" The shock had worn off, and all Jacob could focus on was how pissed he was—pissed and worried because this was what the end of the world had to feel like.

"I had to tell him, Jacob," she pleaded, and if she was begging for his agreement, she wasn't going to get it. "I couldn't keep it from him if I wanted things to work with us. I hated keeping that from him because I've never felt so guilty in my life. He's so open with me and…honesty is important," she finished lamely

"And you decided that when exactly?" Jacob demanded, but he wasn't really after an answer, so he barreled on without giving her time to reply. "What did he say? He's not still there, is he?"

"No," she said quietly, clearly upset. "I told him everything. He asked me a couple questions once I was done, and then he just left. He was really quiet the entire time. But I don't know. It was kind of a scary quiet. I think he was really upset."

"He ran back?" Jacob took the two steps he needed to be able to see out the kitchen window. He quickly scanned the tree line.

"No. He took my truck."

Fuck!

Jacob whipped around and ran a hand down his face. The only two reasons Embry would take the truck would be if he didn't want to tip off a Pack member that he was coming or if he didn't want Bella to be able to drive to La Push. It was probably both, and that pretty much spelled out Jacob's imminent murder.

"Jacob, are you still there?"

"How long ago did he leave?

"A couple of minutes before I called. Jacob, don't—"

He hung up the phone and tried to _think_.

Embry knew that he had made out with Bella. Embry knew that Jacob had lied to his face about it. But that was it. Jacob didn't have to confess to anything more than that. It had been a one-time thing. A mistake.

He practiced saying that out loud. "I'm sorry, Em. We both got caught up in the moment and made a mistake. It didn't mean anything. To Bella." Shit. "_Or_ me. It didn't mean anything to me either. Really."

_Might wanna run through that a few more times._

Jacob cursed under his breath and began pacing the living room. Maybe he should leave the house? If Embry was really pissed, there was a good chance one or both of them would end up phasing on accident, and Billy wouldn't be happy about them demolishing the place. But if Jacob waited in the woods, he'd practically be inviting a violent confrontation, and Jacob thought they needed to talk this shit out.

_Oprah called. She wants her vagina back._

So he waited inside. When the unmistakable rumbling of Bella's truck reached his ears, he moved to the front door, watching as it appeared on the road and turned into the yard. Embry emerged from the truck without slamming the door shut behind him and began making his way toward the house with unhurried steps.

Jacob's dread only grew. Bella had been right—about one thing; this was a _scary_ quiet.

Not entirely sure what to do with himself, Jacob took a deep breath before leaving the house. He met Embry just beyond the porch. They stopped and stared at one another. Well, Embry was staring at Jacob, and Jacob was looking anywhere _but_ Embry.

"Look, man," he sighed. "Bella called and told me—"

And then the motherfucker punched him in the face. Like, hard. There was a distinct cracking sound, and it wasn't one of Embry's knuckles breaking.

Jacob staggered back, nose tingling even as the wolf healing took immediate effect. He glared at Embry over to the top of his hand. "Okay…_ow_."

"Why did you do it, Jake?" Embry's right hand was still clenched in a fist at his side, but he didn't _look_ like he was going to hit Jacob again.

"It…" This really wasn't a conversation he wanted to have in his front yard. "Can we go inside?"

"No!" Embry growled abruptly, arms and chest quivering in rage. He clenched his jaw and looked away until he had control of the phase.

Okay. So this was going to be an outdoor conversation.

When Embry returned his attention to Jacob, he was breathing heavily and shaking his head. "I just don't get it, Jake. I thought…you told me it was _okay_. You told me you didn't like her. And all this time you never said anything. "

Jacob's mouth opened, and moved, and said the things it had been trained to say. "I don't, Embry. I don't like her."

Embry's smile was small and hurt. "You're lying. You know how I can tell?" He ran an unsteady hand through his hair. "Because the way you're looking at me right now? That's how you've been looking at me the last nine months."

Jacob felt like he'd been punched again. All he could do was stare helplessly back at Embry because suddenly he didn't know how to play his part anymore. He didn't know what the right thing to say was.

Embry seemed to be at a loss as well. He didn't look angry anymore, but his hands were shaking—not from an impending phase but from feeling too much…well, from just feeling _too much_. "She doesn't know."

Even thought Embry had muttered the words to himself, Jacob knew they were directed at him. "I know. I didn't want her to. I didn't want any of this, Embry."

And he hadn't. As much as he loved Bella, he wanted lots and lots of things with, from, and for her, but he wouldn't have traded in his relationship with Embry to get them. Especially not like this, where Jacob was losing everything and gaining nothing.

"And now? Are you gonna tell her now?"

Jacob opened his mouth but thought better of what he'd been about to say.

_Do you want me to?_

That would only be adding insult to injury. Instead he sucked in a breath and said, "No, I don't want to tell her. It would change…everything."

If Embry approved, he didn't show it. He stood there unreadable and, somehow, strangely untouchable. Jacob had never felt this self-conscious around him. And he couldn't stand it.

Embry sighed and ran a hand through his hair again. Jacob could hear Bella's voice in the back of his mind.

_You're going to go bald from doing that, Em._

"I don't know what to do," Embry said in frustration.

"You can hit me again if you want."

"Jacob, I'm serious."

_He just called you 'Jacob.'_

"So am I. Hit me, if you want. Or you can phase and gnaw on my legs. Just tell me how to fix this, Embry." Fuck anyone who thought he sounded like a woman. He wasn't going to lose his best friend because he was too much of a guy to ask for forgiveness.

Embry was shaking his head slowly. "I don't think it works like that, Jacob. Knocking you around isn't going to make it better. I mean Christ, Jacob, you almost slept with her. And you lo-like her. How am I supposed to just let that go and not worry about—"

"I won't," Jacob said quickly. "I won't do anything like that again, I swear. I'm already starting to get over her."

_Liar._

And, yeah, he was going to get called out on it.

"Maybe," Embry said quietly, "that would be easier with some distance."

"What do you mean?" Jacob could hear the apprehension in his own voice.

"I think I need some space. _We_ need some space."

"You mean…you and Bella need space away from me?" Jacob asked carefully, not quite wanting to believe what he was hearing.

Embry wouldn't look at him. "I want to work this out with Bella so that we're right again, and I can't do that with you…"

Jacob got the idea.

"I'll talk to Sam," Embry continued, "and make sure he separates our shifts. I think it will be for the best in the long run."

They hovered opposite one another in unfamiliar ground, both hesitating until Embry took one, then two steps backward before turning to walk away.

Jacob, watching him go, couldn't bite back the question burning his tongue. "Are you asking me to stay away from Bella?"

Embry paused beside the truck, hand on the door. He looked back at Jacob. "Yeah, I guess I am."

Then he got in and drove away.

Jacob watched the truck disappear before turning to the woods and phasing the moment he hit the trees. Jared and Leah were patrolling, but he ignored their thoughts and—for once—simply let go. He didn't care who saw his memory of Bella smiling at him for the first time, Embry sitting in the front seat of the Rabbit asking for advice, Bella and Embry holding hands on First Beach, Bella and Jacob planning Embry's 18th birthday party, Embry leaving them both, Bella's hands sliding up beneath Jacob's shirt, Jacob kissing her neck, Jacob phasing for the first time, Embry talking him through the changes, the three of them reuniting, and Jacob resenting it more than he used to. He thought back on it all.

Because it was all fucking pointless now, anyway.

_Whoa, man. Whoa. You and Bella? Shit, did you guys sleep together?_ Jared's mental voice filtered into his subconscious, but he didn't acknowledge him.

Leah did. _It's none of your fucking business. Phase back and tell Sam Jacob took your shift._

_But, wait, what happened with Embry? He knows, right?_

Jacob didn't stop the images and words that rushed to his mind as he recalled the confrontation from minutes before. Jared watched it play out and then phased human.

Leah managed to focus solely on the trees she was passing and the scents she was picking up for all of two minutes before her thoughts drifted toward Jacob and the fucking mess he'd made.

_You really didn't think she would keep it a secret forever, did you? _

Jacob supposed he should be grateful that she sounded as somber as she did. He'd half-expected her to break out the 'I-told-you-so's.

She mentally rolled her eyes. _I'm not a complete bitch._

Jacob wasn't in the mood to argue.

_Seriously, Jacob, you need to—_

_You can tell Sam I took your shift, too._ Jacob picked up his pace, hating that he couldn't outrun her voice in his head.

_Fine. _ And in an exasperated huff, she was gone. The silence wasn't all that more comforting.

* * *

Jacob stepped quietly though his front door just after sunset. He would have stayed wolf longer (like forever) had Sam not showed up and started lecturing him about brotherhood and responsibility. Jacob phased human right after the words, "for the good of the pack." Because the pack had nothing to do with this and neither did Sam, really.

Billy was in the kitchen, and although Jacob didn't want to talk to him, he stopped in the entryway because he didn't have anywhere else to be. Billy eyed him with concern over a bowl of chili. "Rough day?"

Jacob shrugged, and it was hard to act so casual when he felt like complete shit. "I don't think it will be winning any awards."

Billy nodded and returned to his chili. Jacob heaved a sigh of relief at the dismissal and started down the hall.

"Bella's here."

Jacob whirled back around. "What?"

Billy continued eating all too innocently. "Bella's in your room."

For some reason Jacob didn't want to analyze, this pissed him off. Royally. He scowled. "What does she want?"

Billy gave him a look that clearly said, 'Since when has Bella ever needed a reason to come over? Now I really know that there's something going on. You better believe we're going to talk about this later.'

What? So his dad had an expressive face.

Jacob trudged toward his room, pushed the door open forcefully (to make sure Bella knew he was upset), and froze in his tracks

Bella was sitting cross-legged on the floor, barefoot, with a shoebox to one side and a stack of paper scraps—receipts, old worksheets, notebook paper, anything Jacob had been able to get his hands on—set off to the other. A wrinkled napkin was clutched in her hands as she stared up at him with wide, damp eyes.

Jacob felt like she was seeing him for the first time.

"Jake," she breathed, "what…what is this? W-what are all of these?"

He hurried forward and snatched the napkin from her hands, turned it over so he could read it. Of course he already _knew_ what was written on it, but the irrational—human—side of him preferred feigning ignorance a few moments longer.

He'd been in a rush to get it all out (he usually was), so the handwriting was sloppy, but the message was perfectly clear:

_whenever someone smiles I think of her_

_when she smiles sometimes I lean in_

_like I'm gonna kiss her but I never_

_do she smiles less than she used to_

_still wanna kiss her though_

_still can't_

Jacob couldn't meet her eyes, so he glanced at the stack of papers on the floor. The top one was an unattempted crossword puzzle with Bella's name scribbled over and over in the margins of the page.

"Jacob."

"They're just…" He backed away slowly, stopped when he realized he had no place to go. "They're just things that I wrote. Thoughts."

Bella lifted the stack and began shifting through them. Jacob had to look away.

"They're all…about me," she said quietly over the rustling of paper.

Jacob forced a laugh. "Wow. I didn't know you thought so highly of your—"

"Jacob," she said firmly. "They're all about me."

That last part sounded like an accusation. Jacob knew he deserved it, and that it shouldn't make him angry, but he couldn't get a fucking break, and all he wanted to do was pin this shit on someone else and then throw up for a couple of hours.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

Fuck. This again.

"Why do you think?" he bit out. The anger gave him the strength he needed to meet her eyes again, but he regretted it almost instantly. Bella was looking at him like _she_ was hurt. As if she had anything on what he was dealing with.

"But how could you just keep all this to yourself. If you'd been honest about—"

"You know, Bella? Fucking honesty isn't always the best policy. Embry doesn't even want to look at me after you were so _honest_ this morning."

"I had to tell him, Jake!" She was full-on crying now, breaths catching in the back of her throat and tears sliding down her face.

Jacob clenched his hands to keep them from reaching out.

"Because you didn't want me," she sobbed, wiping futilely at her eyes. "I feel things for you that I shouldn't because I love Embry. I do. I love him so much, Jake. You know that. He knows that. But I've always felt so good around you. And I thought it was okay because you were my best friend and friends do that. Then I kissed you, and friends don't do that, Jake. They don't."

"You were upset," Jacob offered weakly, because this was Bella, and he couldn't _not_ comfort her when she was like this. And she was saying…things. Things that he didn't understand but really, really wanted to.

Bella shook her head vehemently. The tears were slowing. "No. I thought that's what it was, too, at first. But that's just because I was scared. All that time we spent together after Embry first phased…that's the closest I've ever felt to anyone. I've never relied on anyone the way I relied on you. And, Jake, I wanted to do more than hold your hand."

He was dreaming, Jacob decided. After talking to Billy in the kitchen, he went to bed, and now he was dreaming.

"It was so hard when you phased and left me just like Embry did. But then everything happened so fast, and suddenly you're both werewolves, and Embry and I got back together. I thought everything would be okay then, but it was only worse because I wanted you even when I already had Embry. So I avoided you. And then last week in the garage you said that the kiss was a mistake, and you really didn't see me that way. You said that I was the same as Leah. So I had to tell Embry about what happened. Because he was the one I was going to be with, and I had to make it work, and to make it work, I had to be honest with him about what happened."

Bella took a deep breath and didn't start talking again. That was good. Jacob wouldn't have been able to process another word. As it was, he couldn't even get his own thoughts in order.

"You,"—he pointed at Bella, who was still sitting on the floor and staring up at him expectantly—"you're telling me something."

Bella bit her lip and looked away. Her gaze inadvertently fell on the stacks of notes. "So are you."

Well…shit.

She liked him. She _liked him_ liked him. This wasn't supposed to happen. Jacob had never thought that this could happen. It was like something out of one those god awful Julia Roberts movies Rebecca used to watch. Only the guy usually had some cheesy, suave line to say, and Jacob could only stare at her.

"Wuh…I…where are you going?"

Bella had climbed to her feet and was stepping into her shoes.

"I'm gonna go," she said evenly. "I need to think about…everything. And I need to talk to Embry. Sooner rather than later." Bella picked up the jacket she had lying on the bed and slipped it on.

As Jacob watched, each second that ticked by felt like an opportunity slipping away

_Your transformation into a chick is now complete._

Bella was stepping past him to get to the door.

_You're female, not paralyzed! Do something!_

"Bella." He caught her hand.

Her eyes found his slowly. And, yeah, someone must have clued her into the whole Julia Roberts bit because she looked at him from beneath her lashes and pursed her lips before simply saying, "Yes?"

He was a guy. And no one gave him any lines or shit, so Jacob really couldn't be blamed for what happened next.

The hand not cradling her wrist against his chest went to her chin, and he tilted it just enough so that when he lowered his face towards her, his lips caught her mouth instead of her nose. Bella gasped but didn't pull away. Her bottom lip caught gently between both of his.

Best feeling ever.

But Jacob wasn't about to press his luck (which had made a startling 180 turn within the last two minutes), so he leaned back slowly until he'd returned to his full height, and Bella was watching him with an upturned face.

"And I would never kiss Leah like that," he said. "I would never kiss Leah period, actually. Just in case there was any confusion."

She blinked and maybe smiled, but she'd ducked her head so quickly that he couldn't tell for sure.

"Goodnight, Jake."

"Goodnight, honey."

Jacob stood alone in his room and tried to figure out which way was up.

* * *

**AN:** One more part to go. With school being all school-like and demanding my time, I doubt I'll have the final part out in a week. So thank you in advance for the patience. You guys are wonderful. 3

P.S. Anyone who get the "9,000" reference is welcome to join me at the next You Tubers Anonymous meeting this Tuesday night. Bring snacks and leave your laptops and iphones at home.


	7. Part Seven

Extra thanks go out to **MeraNaamJoker** for pre-reading this chapter. :)

* * *

For I Am Captured Straight to You

**PART SEVEN**

Jacob didn't see Bella all week.

He hardly noticed.

It wasn't that he didn't think about her or anything, because he did. He thought about her a lot. And if he were a girl, he would probably admit to just how often he thought about her. But he wasn't, so he wouldn't.

_Is that a new thing you're trying out? Being a guy? Cuz I think I preferred you with estrogen._

So he thought about her all the time, okay? When he didn't have something immediate to focus on, his mind just sorta drifted her way. Like an unanchored boat caught in the tide or some shit.

_And we're back._

But Jacob didn't really _miss_ her, per se. In fact he was kind of glad she wasn't around. Because even though he didn't see Bella, he definitely saw Embry. The Rez was a small place and the high school was even smaller, so it was kind of inevitable that they would cross paths even if Sam had them running separate patrols. They didn't talk at all, or even acknowledge each other, and it was almost like the days back before Jacob had phased and Embry was running with Sam's posse. Only Embry didn't look like a conceited jerk; he looked fucking heartbroken.

It pretty much made Jacob feel like shit.

He knew from his patrols with Leah that Bella and Embry had broken up Sunday night. He didn't catch any of the details but was aware that Leah went over to Bella's house every day after school. The two would watch movies that began with "the"—The Notebook, The Wedding Singer, The Break-Up, The Importance of Being Angsty (or something; it had that Colin guy Bella loved.). Anyway, they would watch movies, and Bella would cry, and then they would do homework, and Bella would cry while Leah pretended not to notice.

It was all really female, and Jacob was glad that Leah was, well, _female_ and knew what Bella needed. Once Jacob had considered going over to check on her himself, but Leah threatened to do unspeakable things to his manhood which would result in him never being able to procreate, so he cringed every time he saw a blender and wisely decided against it. Jacob had forgiven Leah for telling Bella about the box under his bed (and had come _this_ close to thanking her), so they were on good terms despite the fact that Leah was adamantly "Team Bella" in this mess. Because for some mysterious reason, Leah was being less obnoxious than usual.

For guys, the post break-up procedure was slightly different. It usually involved 'borrowing' beer from Old Quil's never-ending stash of booze, holing up in Quil's basement, talking shit about the ex-girlwhatever, and then watching bootlegged porn. At least that was what they'd done after that one girl used Embry for a week to make her old boyfriend jealous (bitch). That was also what they did after the Seahawks went 2-14 a couple seasons back, but that was neither here nor there.

Jacob couldn't even talk to Embry, let alone get drunk and trash-talk Bella with him.

Well, Jacob had to take that back. He _had_ talked to Embry once. They had been standing in line at the cafeteria—by chance—when Embry suddenly stopped in front of the buffets and said…

"They're out of mashed potatoes."

So Embry hadn't been looking at him when he'd said it, and he didn't wait for a response before walking away, but Jacob had been the only one around to hear, so it _had_ to have been directed at him, right?

_Right…_

Either way, that was on Wednesday, and today was Friday. Embry hadn't talked to him or acknowledged his existence since, and Jacob didn't know how to fix it. And it _could_ be fixed. It would just take time and lots of…

He was working on it.

Charlie's cruiser was in front of the house when Jacob got home from school. It was raining heavily, and Jacob jogged from the garage to the back door. He got soaked anyway because, yeah, he turned into a dog and not something useful like an umbrella. His dad and Charlie were sitting in the living room, each with a beer in his hand and eyes focused on the television.

"Hey, Charlie," Jacob greeted.

Charlie looked up and nodded. "Jake."

When Charlie didn't look away but seemed to study him from the couch, Jacob nervously wondered if he knew the role he'd played in Bella and Embry's breakup. Sure, Charlie liked Jacob (they were practically family), but he'd liked Embry, too. Embry had made Bella happy. Then they broke up and Bella had been crying her eyes out all week. For some reason it was important to Jacob that Charlie didn't think any less of him.

So Jacob did a mental fist pump when Charlie shook his head and looked back at the TV. "How do you keep clothes on that boy's back? He's two inches taller every time I see him."

"It's not usually the shirts I have to worry about." Billy smirked.

Jacob rolled his eyes. His father, the comedian.

"What are the boxes for?" Jacob asked while heading for the fridge. A stack of flattened cardboard boxes was leaning against the back of the couch. Jacob thought he recognized them as one of the bajillion random things usually stored in Rachel and Rebecca's old room.

"Charlie's taking them for Bella. She needs moving boxes."

The package of cheese slipped from Jacob's hands. He fumbled after it. "Bella? Bella's moving?"

"This weekend," Charlie muttered less than enthusiastically. "She didn't tell you?"

"Uh, no, but we haven't talked in a few days." Jacob tried to say that as casually as possible, but it was probably a good thing that neither Billy nor Charlie were looking in his direction. "Where, um, where is she moving?"

_Please not China. Please not China. Please not China._

"Port Angeles," Charlie grunted, and Jacob felt a little less like he needed to sit down. "A girl in one of Bella's classes asked her to room with her in an apartment up there."

"That's…cool."

This definitely wasn't cool. Why the hell did Bella need to move 40 minutes away when she'd been commuting _all_ semester? He was pretty sure he knew the answer.

Jacob tried not to feel like the biggest girl in the world (he was reformed!) as he took the kitchen phone and walked as far from the living room as the chord would allow—the laundry niche. He quickly dialed the Clearwater's number (which he only knew because sometimes he talked to Seth, okay?), and asked for Leah.

"What do you want?"

"Bella's moving."

Some people had the scary ability to communicate an eye-roll over the phone. Leah was one of those scary people. "Yeah."

"You didn't tell me that!"

"My prerogative."

"Did she talk to you about it?"

"No, she told me through sign language."

Jacob scowled. "I'm going to go see her," he warned.

"…"

"Leah, did you hear me? I'm going to go—"

"Yeah, I heard you. Christ. What do you want? A pep talk?"

"No, I was kind of waiting for you to threaten my manhood," Jacob said, frowning in confusion.

Leah sighed and said, "Going to see her wouldn't be the worst idea you've had."

"Erm…what now?"

"You know, Jake, talking to you is like trying to communicate with a broomstick, except broomsticks don't ask annoying questions and wouldn't have called me in the first place."

"You've been telling me all week to leave her alone!" Jacob exploded.

"I told you once on Wednesday."

"That was only two days ago!"

"It was a bad idea two days ago. Now you need to get your ass over there and be a man."

What was it about the second X chromosome that made women _insane_? First, she was all, 'If you go over to Bella's house, I will personally make a milkshake out of your testicles.' And now she was like, 'You need to get your ass over there and be a man.'

Bullshit! Unless…

"This is some sort of reverse psychology stunt, isn't it?" Jacob accused. "You're telling me to go just because you know that I know that you would try to set me up for failure or that I wouldn't take your advice just to spite you, which I was totally thinking about, and you knew it." When there was silence on the other end of the line, and he smirked triumphantly. Oh, yeah. She was totally trying to get him not to go. "Well, I'm not falling for it. I'm going to go see Bella right now."

"Darn. You're just too smart for me."

And then she hung up.

Twenty minutes later Jacob was even more soaked, standing on Bella's front porch like an idiot and wondering if he should knock. He never knocked.

And yet…

Ugh. He missed the days when he'd been so sure about everything.

Deciding to bite the bullet, Jacob opened the door—without knocking—and stepped out of his wet sneakers. He set them in front of the hall closet, before heading upstairs, where he could hear Bella moving around in her room.

She didn't see him standing in her doorway, so Jacob just sorta watched her for a few moments. She was humming something slow as she took clothes off of hangers and folded them into piles on her bed. Seeing her be so meticulous never failed to amuse him. It was fucking adorable, alright?

When she turned to move toward the closet, she caught sight of Jacob out of the corner of the eye and nearly jumped a foot in the air (impressive for someone who was only three feet tall to begin with). "Holy crow!" she shouted, hand clutched to her chest. "Jacob! What—make some noise next time, would you?"

Despite everything, he smiled at her anxiety. "I could sing whenever I walk up behind you."

She grimaced. "Please don't."

"I wouldn't, really. Even if you asked nicely."

They both knew he couldn't string three notes together without traumatizing someone.

Bella mumbled something about small miracles and disappeared into the walk-in closet. She reappeared with a heap of clothes folded over one arm. The sight reminded Jacob why he was here in the first place.

"Charlie said you're moving to Port Angeles."

Bella nodded as she laid the clothes out on the bed. "A girl in my interp class lost her job and needs someone to help pay rent."

She didn't elaborate, didn't apologize for not telling him herself.

Jacob crossed his arms. "You're running away."

Bella had moved to the other side of bed, either to put something tangible between them or so that she could talk to him as she continued folding. She didn't react outwardly to his comment, but glanced up briefly.

"Have you talked to Embry?" she asked.

_Fucking got you there._

"I have," she said when he didn't reply. "Every day."

He definitely hadn't known that. And it pissed him off more than it should. "So you'll talk to him but not me? I thought you two broke up."

Bella paused in her folding, swallowed thickly as she blinked several times. "We did," she murmured.

_Way to go, asshole._

Bella wiped discretely at her eyes. "You know, Jake. Embry's important to me. And he's important to you. This is hard for him, for all of us. I'm just trying to be sensitive to—"

"And what is _this_, Bella? Where are we right now? Because our last conversation didn't exactly clear anything up."

Fuck. Why did he sound so angry? He wasn't. He was just lost and—shit—maybe a little scared. It felt like he had a decision to make, only he wasn't sure what his options were and what they would cost him.

He needed to start from the beginning. "Who broke up with who?"

"I broke up with him," Bella admitted, looking guilty. "He wanted to work things out, but…"

Jacob stepped closer until his thighs hit the mattress. "But?"

"But it wouldn't be fair to him when I have feelings for you." At his look of thinly concealed pleasure, she rolled her eyes. "I'd already told you that."

"I know. I just like hearing you say it."

Bella huffed and picked up a blouse to fold.

Jacob's heart soared. (And, fuck yeah, his subconscious wasn't even going to correct him on that one.)

"I love you."

Woah. Personal thought just went public without permission.

_Not so "sub" anymore, am I, hot stuff?_

Bella wasn't looking at him. "Jake," she warned.

"I love you," he repeated because he couldn't let the first time he said that just be a fluke. And even if he was putting the cart before the horse, mule, elephant, and the rest of the zoo, it was still true. "I have for a long time."

She was biting her lip and not in the "I-don't-know-how-to-let-you-down-easy" way but in the "I'm-trying-my-best-not-to-smile" way. Which was awesome.

"I wish things were simpler," she said finally and stopped messing around with the clothes. She looked at him squarely. "Not different, but easier. Does that make sense?"

Jacob thought it made _a lot_ of sense. "Yeah."

They slipped into one of their Jake and Bells silences which were never awkward and always productive. While Bella finished sorting her clothes, Jacob went to the bathroom to grab a towel to dry off with. Then he got to sit at her desk and watch her go about her business. She wasn't taking much with her, mostly books, jeans, and shirts—things she needed to be Bella.

In the middle of boxing her Jane Austen collection, Bella stopped, looked at Jacob, and said, "I love Embry, Jacob."

"I'm used to that."

"I think I always will."

"Me too."

She silently considered that and then went back to packing. Around seven Charlie came home. He gave the broken down boxes and a roll of packing tape to Jacob. So he set about putting together boxes for Bella to use, and if he didn't like the idea of helping Bella move away, he did like being helpful, so he left it at that.

It stopped raining during dinner, which Charlie had picked up from one of those Chinese takeout places that used those generic plastic bags with the yellow smiley face on them (the trademark of a truly authentic Chinese restaurant). Jacob's fortune cookie said something about taking chances and carrier pigeons, so after the table was cleared, he asked Bella if she wanted to go for a walk.

Her hesitant 'yes' was better than no 'yes,' so he took it.

He also took her hand as they walked out the backdoor. She didn't pull away. So then they were holding hands and walking in silence through the woods, and Jacob was waiting for it to blow up in his face—carrier pigeons were going to start raining from the sky _any_ moment now.

"I'm going to miss you."

Jacob glanced down at her. "What do you mean?"

"I'm going to be living in Port Angeles."

Oh. Right.

_Deploy carrier pigeons!_

"It's not like you're moving to the other side of the state, Bells. You can still visit, or, you know, I could visit you. Winter break is coming up…"

She bit her lip and avoided his eyes. A Bella Swan tell if he ever saw one.

Jacob groaned. "Come on, Bells. I love you, and you…'have feelings' for me, so why can't we just...be. Together. If we take it slow and keep it to ourselves for a little while, then Embry—"

"Then Embry will what?" she asked. "He'll learn to do what you did? Suck it up and pretend that everything is fine when it isn't? Is that really what you want for him? You weren't happy like that, Jake."

"No, I don't want that for him. But I want to be happy for a change. It's selfish, fine, but that doesn't stop me from wanting you."

Bella had stopped walking so that their arms stretched between until he was forced to stop, too. He inched back towards her reluctantly. Flipping his palm over, Bella held it before her, tracing his life line and love line with her thumbs. Jacob shivered.

"What do you think the chances are of you and Embry going back to the way you were?" she asked quietly.

He swallowed. "It can't ever be like it was. With the three of us like we were."

It was the first time he'd said it out loud, though the realization had been sitting heavily in his stomach all week.

"This is what growing up is like, isn't it?"

Jacob wasn't sure but thought that sounded about right. "It sucks."

Bella's hands on his skin made it hard to be any more eloquent. But she tipped her head in agreement anyway. "It would be easier if you had your best friend."

"Bella—"

"No, Jake. Listen." She tugged on his arm. "I'm moving. And not because I want to get away from you, or Embry, or us. Because I don't." There was something in the way she said it that made him believe her. "I need something that's just mine. Something that doesn't rely on anyone else but me. My own space, my own schedule, my own needs. When you and Embry both left me after you phased it was awful because all the good things in my life relied on you. I don't want to feel like that ever again."

He hated where this was going. "But the good stuff in my life relies on _you_."

"It didn't always."

He stubbornly (and half-heartedly) tried pulling his hand away, but she tightened her hold.

"Talk to Embry," she told him, and he'd never heard her sound so serious. "It will help. You guys mean so much to each other."

He didn't argue but didn't promise anything either.

His lack of response made her sigh. "I didn't break up with Embry for you, Jacob. I did it for me. That's why I think this might all work out."

Her big brown eyes bore into him and Jacob stared back, feeling his resolve waning under her sincerity and determination.

Fuck. Of course she was right. But he'd been waiting so damn long for this that it felt like he should fight harder. He wanted to.

"You're not even going to visit?"

"I'll be in Forks from time to time," she assured him. "But I'm not going to hang around the Rez like I used to. Not for a while at least. I'm going to spend part of winter break in Jacksonville with Renee and Phil, but you'll probably see me at Christmas."

Not good enough. "Will you call? And will you pick up the phone when I call? Because I will be calling you."

She smiled slowly, lips pursing in a way that was almost painfully endearing. "I'll pick up," she promised. "I told Embry I would stay in touch, too. And Leah."

He wanted to ask if she planned on dating other guys in Port Angeles, but he figured that would sound needy and douchey. And if her explanation for leaving was anything to go by, that didn't seem like something he needed to worry about.

"I don't want you to go." He wasn't asking her to stay; he just wanted her to know.

"Well, I don't really want to leave," she admitted, pulling him closer. "But I guess that's part of growing up, too."

"We could stay kids," he suggested. "We could ride around on tricycles, make mudpies, mispronounce big words, and steal real children's teeth to put under our pillow for the Tooth Fairy."

"And collect points at the library's summer reading program so we could get prizes like free Dilly Bars," Bella added.

Jacob grinned. "I remember Embry and me making fun of all the losers who did that."

She laughed and shoved him (Jacob made sure to stumble back as if it didn't feel like someone was just blowing on him…from ten feet away). But then she followed after him and wrapped her arms around his middle. "I'm going to miss you," she murmured against his shirt.

Bella had to have, like, gone to a school in Phoenix where learning how to give good hugs was a major part of the curriculum. She rocked at them. Jacob squeezed her back hard enough that she probably would have complained if this hadn't been such an epic moment.

She sniffled once and began moving away, but Jacob's arms totally had other ideas and didn't let her get very far. One hand slid up almost casually to the back of her neck, and his thumb began working slow circles across her skin.

_She feels so fucking good. _

Yeah, that sounded crass and shallow, but she was the only person he'd ever thought that about, and that had to count for something. This could be the last time Jacob saw her for weeks, so he should probably touch her as much she'd let him. Maybe he could even…

Bella read the intention in his face and stepped back. "I don't want to regret any more kisses, Jake."

"You regret that last one?" He thought it had been pretty nice.

_Fucking fantastic, actually._

"I had a boyfriend."

It didn't escape his notice that that wasn't a 'yes.'

"But _I_ kissed _you_, so you can pretend it was against your will while secretly enjoying it."

He just happened to be in on that particular secret. If it was a secret.

Jacob considered her carefully. "Did you happen to tell Embry about that one, too?"

She shook her head. "No, but maybe _you_ should."

He'd been given worse advice. (One time Quil told him that sticking your finger into an outlet was a good way to test if it worked.)

"Yeah, I'll consider that as an opener. It'll help ease our way into the discussion about where to hide my dismembered body."

Because he was crazy irresistible Bella stepped forward to give him one more hug. "I have faith in you, Jake."

They held hands all the way back to the house. Then Jacob helped Bella load boxes into the back of her truck and then tarped it for the night because it would undoubtedly rain six more times before morning. Leaving was hard, and Jacob put it off as long as he could by making small talk with Charlie and making Bella tell him everything she knew about her new roommate—some workout junkie who only ate food that came directly from the dirt, which meant no vital food groups like Cheetos or Hostess Snack Cakes.

_Why bother eating at all?_

Finally Bella had to not-so-subtly corral him out the front door and into the Rabbit, promising to call as soon as she was settled in with her dirt-eating roommate. Jacob leaned out the window and stole a kiss that landed just beneath her right ear. She rolled her eyes and went back into the house with a departing wave over her shoulder.

Jacob arrived in La Push before he even processed that he had left Bella's house. His mind was still back there in a way, and he drove past home, past Quil's house, past the grocery store, and along the cliffs. When he'd reached the highest peak, Jacob pulled off the road and onto the dirt, turning off the car as soon as it was parked.

Jacob didn't have to walk far through the trees to find Embry sitting in the small clearing that gave way to the open ocean and sky. His legs were thrown over the edge, a six pack of that god-awful soda he loved at his hip. Two of the glass bottles were empty and had rolled a few feet away, while another was clutched in Embry's hand.

Picking up one the two remaining in the cardboard carrier, Jacob dropped down beside Embry. He twisted off the cap and took a pull of the too-sweet cream soda. Neither of them looked at the other. Night had stopped being dark for them a long time ago, so they just watched waves turning the water as it rocked against the cliff face.

Minutes stretched by in silence until…

"I can't believe she's actually leaving."

Jacob knew this one was directed at him. "Yeah."

Embry turned a newly empty bottle between his hands. "I want to be mad at her, but…"

"Yeah."

Embry looked over at Jacob. It was probably the first time he actually saw him all week. "Why are you drinking that? You hate it."

Jacob shrugged. "There aren't a whole lot of options. It's this or die of thirst."

Embry seemed to accept that and turned back to the water. Jacob watched him. Watched him work something over in his mind, come to a decision, and sigh. Embry got to his feet, grabbing his trash as he went. "We've got a lot of stuff at home. Mom went shopping yesterday. Just stay away from the Oreos, okay?"

Jacob smiled at the ocean then stood and followed Embry to the car.

* * *

Things didn't go back to the way they used to be after that. Bella was miles away and became less familiar (and somehow more incredible) with each passing week. Embry and Jacob didn't have a series of heart-to-hearts about the break-up. They didn't even really talk about it or apologize, for that matter. Probably because neither of them was a woman, and Bella wasn't there to make them do it.

It took a while for the two of them to find that common ground they had had for years growing up. Bella's initial arrival in Forks had shifted it all beneath their feet, and it was hard to sit on Quil's couch on a Saturday and not wish that Bella was there to make it more worthwhile.

As promised, Bella called regularly. At first those conversations were something Jacob and Embry each kept to themselves; they were pieces of her they didn't have to—or want to—share. If Bella called Jacob while he was doing homework with Embry, then Jacob would walk outside to answer. Embry would do the same, and it always made Jacob clench his teeth.

But then there was a week in January when Bella didn't call Jacob at all. Every time he dialed her number it went straight to voicemail. By the fifth day of no contact, Jacob broke down and asked Embry if he'd heard from her. He hadn't, and the two of them drove over to Charlie's. He explained that she'd misplaced her phone but was so set on finding it that she wouldn't buy a new one. He would pass along their concern, but he hadn't heard from her in a couple of days himself. Jacob and Embry were in Port Angeles an hour later chastising a sickly Bella.

"Shannon's crashing at a friend's place because she was afraid she'd get sick, too," Bella moaned through a tissue. "She took her phone with her."

After that, Embry and Jacob stopped taking their calls in private.

By Jacob's eighteenth birthday, he didn't feel like he was waiting for things to become normal anymore. They _were_ normal, just different from the normal he'd been used to. Considering that he and Embry could get ridiculously drunk, steal the school's mascot (go Timberwolves!) and spend a night in jail without arguing or acting resentful, Jacob thought this normal was pretty good.

* * *

"What _is _that?"

Jacob scowled at Leah's offended expression. "You know what it is."

"No. I really don't."

"Yes, you do. Stop messing around."

"Quil," Leah barked over her shoulder, "get in here."

Humming obnoxiously loud, Quil strolled into the kitchen, hands on hips. "What seems to be the problem, little ladies?"

Six months ago Leah would have had Quil crying in a fetal position on the floor after a comment like that. Now her nostrils flared and her teeth glistened dangerously in the light. Less terrifying but just as effective against someone as simple-minded as Quil. He sobered up immediately.

"Erm…I mean…did you need something, Leah?"

She pointed at the table. "What is that?"

Quil peered around Jacob. "It's a cake."

"And what's _on_ the cake?"

Quil squinted and tilted his head to one side as he analyzed the multi-colored frosting. "I think…it's a jack-o-lantern. Without a stem. And slightly smooshed. But that's okay, Jacob, no one is perfect."

Jacob batted Quil's hand off his shoulder. "It's the _bat signal_."

Quil and Leah looked back at the cake.

"Ohhhh."

"I still don't see it."

"That's because you don't even know what the bat signal is, Leah," Jacob muttered as he grabbed his cell phone from his pocket and took a picture of the cake. He sent it with a short message.

"Yes, I do." Leah fell into one of the chairs. "Believe me. I've spent enough time staring at Christian Bale's chest to figure it out."

"This is different. This is the original bat signal."

Quil was nodding along in approval. "That's a really good way to think about it, Jake."

"I'm not just _thinking_ about it. That's what it is!"

"Way to stay positive. Don't let other people's opinions or reality get you down."

Jacob was pretty sure he felt his eye twitch, but his phone vibrated before he could figure out what that meant for Quil's safety.

"Ah ha! Bella knew what it was." He held the screen triumphantly before Leah's face:

_Bella:_ _Holy fiddle faddle, Batman! What a great cake! Mail me a piece. ;)_

Leah rolled her eyes. "I think that says more about you than it does the icing."

"What do you mean?"

"Look." Leah pointed at the text. "She put a winking emoticon on the end."

Jacob raised his eyebrows at her. "So?"

"She did that because she was worried you wouldn't realize she was joking. She clearly thinks you're a moron who would actually attempt to mail a piece of cake."

Jacob protectively snatched his phone back. "That's just Bella's way of being cute over long distances. I happen to find it very effective."

He walked out of the room before Leah could make some emasculating comment.

_Yeah, cuz you're a total stranger to those._

He still needed to pick up chips and other junk before the party and didn't have a whole lot of time. So he hopped into the Rabbit and sped down the road to the one-stop-shop. If Embry saw him driving instead of walking he'd lose his shit ("lose his shit" here meaning "go off on a five minute rant about the environment and the human-driven destruction of our 'one Earth.'") The guy was turning nineteen, and he was still as obsessive as he was when he was ten. The only difference being that Pokémon was out and environmental engineering was in.

It still hadn't quite sunk in that when the summer was over, Embry would be shaking off the moss of La Push and heading east for school. He'd basically been offered a full ride to the University of Illinois and didn't even consider turning it down. Jacob had been more than a little surprised when Sam not only accepted that he was losing one of the Pack but actually _supported_ the decision. He even let Embry get out of his patrol so that he could go celebrate.

_Just call him Mr. Mom._

Fucking twilight zone right there.

Inside the store, Jacob made quick work of filling his shopping cart with a variety of food that Bella's old roommate Shannon wouldn't dream of touching. Bella's horrified voice from last December played through his mind: _Holy crow, Jake. She came home while I had Easy Mac heating in the microwave, and she threw up! Just the smell made her throw up!_

Jacob must have still been grinning at check out, because the girl at the cash register—whom he vaguely recognized as junior from school—smiled at him and said, "You gonna clue the rest of us in on that joke?"

_Woah. Her teeth are really white and really straight. Probably one of those crazy people who drinks coffee through a straw._

"No joke," he promised while piling the bags and boxes on the conveyor belt. "I'm just naturally this happy. The doctors say it shouldn't kill me."

The girl—her nametag said 'Julie'—laughed. Loudly.

_Great. She thinks you're flirting with her. Avoid eye contact._

As Julie rung up the multitude of items, she kept up the small talk, commenting on how all the hot guys were graduating (wink, wink) and that only two people were heading out of state for school. "What about you?" she eventually asked. "What are your plans for the fall?"

Jacob, who had been staring resolutely at the gum packets for the last two minutes, was obliged to meet her over-interested stare. "Oh, I'm going to UDub."

"That's cool. What major?"

But she was handing him the receipt and Jacob was already gathering up the plastic bags. "Nice seeing you, Julie."

"Yeah. Maybe we'll run into each other at the party later?"

"Uh-huh."

_Not if I can help it._

Basically the entire Rez had promised to show up for Embry's party, so the festivities were being held at First Beach. Around seven that night, the place was packed. Jacob had never seen so many people under 30 gathered in one spot. Somehow word had spread to Forks that there was going to be a "crazy beach party" in La Push, and the white kids had arrived in droves. Jacob didn't really care except that they had run out of food an hour ago.

Against his better judgment, Jacob had put Quil in charge of the bonfire. It was too big and leaned a little too far to the left, but no one had died yet, so Jacob was counting his blessings. While keeping one eye on that disaster waiting to happen, Jacob scanned the crowd of people for Embry. He'd shown up around five, spent a solid twenty minutes gushing over the batman cake (take that, Leah), and had then waded into the masses.

Jacob hadn't seen him since. Normally that wouldn't have been a big deal because Jacob knew a lot people who were in attendance, but the longer he sat at one the picnic tables observing, the more he missed the one person who wasn't there.

Bella was in Europe with Renee and Phil. They'd been roaming around there for two weeks now. Before that, Bella had been in Jacksonville, working in the summer program at the school Renee taught at. It had been too good of an opportunity for Bella to pass up, seeing as how she was majoring in elementary education. But that meant the last time she'd been in Forks was the first week of summer break. They'd talked a lot over the phone, but it wasn't enough for Jacob.

He missed being able to see her and touch her.

A fist bumped Jacob's shoulder. "What's up, man?"

Embry climbed up onto the table, resting his feet on the bench beside where Jacob was sitting. Jacob was surprised by how happy he looked. He was tapping his foot to the crappy pop song playing from Jared's stereo and rubbing his hands together in front him—which he only did when he had a lot of pent-up nervous energy.

"I'm making sure Quil doesn't accidentally maim any of the guests."

"Good call. Some of them are entirely too hot to be maimed." Embry jerked his head towards a group of girls a few yards away talking amongst themselves. They were all tan and scantily dressed. Jacob could see the appeal.

"Yeah."

Jacob glanced back at Embry to find him smiling all knowingly.

"What?" Jacob asked suspiciously.

Embry bit back his smile while shaking his head. "Nothing. It's just…senior year was good."

That wasn't what he was smiling about at all, but Jacob went along with it. "I guess."

"No, it was really good." Embry said it so soberly that Jacob had to turn and look at him again. "It was bullshit sometimes, but in the end it all sorted itself out, you know? It's gonna suck going to college without you, man."

_That_ was something Jacob could agree with completely. "I know what you mean."

Embry held his gaze for a moment before nodding. He slid off the table. "Hey, Jake, you should break out the Twister mats. I think those girls would totally be willing."

Jacob smirked. "I didn't bring them. They're at home."

"Then haul ass."

Jacob took his damn time walking home. Didn't even phase. Embry was lucky it was his birthday or he wouldn't be getting the games at all. He had his hand on the handle of the storm door when he heard sounds coming from the garage. Someone closed the door to the Rabbit. Jacob's arm dropped back to his side.

_Who the hell… _

He walked around the side of the house to find the light on in the garage. Jacob never turned that light on because he didn't need it. Jacob's first suspicion was that it was Quil using his garage like it was some sort of hourly rate hotel. And if that was the case, Jacob would have some serious bodily harm to cause. But as he approached the open door, a familiar scent became more and more potent until Jacob was staring at Bella Swan through his windshield.

She was sitting in the passenger seat of the Rabbit, slumped down with her head against the backrest. There was something about the small smile on her face that suppressed his instinct to yell and yank her out of the car into a hug. Instead he swallowed thickly and moved toward the driver side door. Her head turned to follow him.

_Bella Swan is sitting in my car._

And she looked fucking beautiful.

Slowly Jacob opened the door and got inside, watching her just as intently as she was watching him. They must have been sitting in silence for at least five minutes before Bella said something.

"I was worried you'd forgotten."

"Forgotten what?"

"Our plans," she said.

"Plans?"

She smiled secretively, which was something he'd never seen Bella do. "A year ago today we made plans. Well, Quil made plans _for _us."

"I don't—"

"We were going to run away together on Embry's nineteenth birthday."

Jacob was taken back to a dark closet and Bella's finger on his lips. An insincere 'oops.'

He'd forgotten about that. Not that that was something someone would _normally_ remember. They'd just been fooling around. Like they always were.

"I forgive you for forgetting," Bella said seriously. "But you have to drive the first leg."

"Drive?" Jacob echoed, feeling like he was completely missing out on something big. "The first leg of what?"

"When people say they're going to 'run away' they don't plan on actually _running_ anywhere. They drive. Or take a bus or plane—"

He caught on quickly. "And where exactly are we driving?"

She stared at him, half of her face hidden by the leather seat. "Away."

He heard a destination in her voice. He just didn't know what it was. It didn't seem like it mattered.

Jacob took a deep breath. "Shouldn't I…I don't know…pack some stuff?"

"I took care of it."

He looked at the backseat. A brow duffle bag was sitting beside a purple one. Both of them looked close to bursting.

_You got any other excuses?_

Jacob opened his mouth and then shut it.

_Not any good ones._

His hand moved to the ignition, where the key was already waiting to be turned. But Bella's hand shot out to cover his. "Wait," she said.

And he did because her tongue had darted out to wet her lips, and his ability to focus on anything else was completely shot to hell.

"I want to kiss you," she said but didn't move. "Is that okay?"

_Give me a moment to mull that one over._

He cleared his throat. "That depends. Can you kiss me without regretting it?"

"Can you?"

"I don't know. I've never tried kissing myself before. Could be traumatizing."

"Jacob—"

Jacob leaned over and kissed her. And her kissing him back with her arms around his neck and her body pressed against his? Fuck awesome.

Really it didn't seem like they were ever going to stop (which he didn't have a problem with at all). Her tongue kept sliding against his, and when her nails scratched gently at the base of his neck, it was almost like she was asking for more. He didn't have a problem with _that_ either, except the car was small for what he had planned.

But Bella seemed to come to her senses eventually, and pulled away with pink cheeks and bitten lips. She smoothed down her rumpled hair as she fell back into her seat. "I, um, I'm good now. You can drive."

She didn't roll her eyes at his smug expression, which was like a sign from the heavens that this trip was going to be the best thing that had ever happened to him. He turned the key in the ignition. He pulled out of the garage with Coldplay blasting from the radio.

~ fin ~

* * *

**AN:** Thank you to everyone who has read, reviewed, or listened to me complain on twitter. You ladies are fantastic. This story was a lot of fun to write, and I'm glad I got to share it with you. I especially want to thank the reviewers who I couldn't reply to via PM because you either have the feature disabled or I'm blocked.

In case you're wondering if you read that ending wrong...yeah, they drove off into the damn sunset. Anyone who has a problem with it can go read Zenith. ;)

Much love!


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